Last week, Ford Motor Co. announced a move to target tween and teenage girls after research released by trend tracking firm The Zandl Group indicated that the Mustang is the “most desired car” among girls ages 8 to 16. “Pony Girl by Mustang,” according to the April 9 Brandweek article, is an “automotive-inspired, lifestyle-driven licensing program” designed to build brand affinity before its target demographic is old enough to take the wheels, in hopes that when the time does come to buy that first car, they will buy a Mustang. With a colorful, “girly” style guide and a logo that features the Mustang brand’s iconic galloping horse, the program is intended to be aspirational—not promotional. According to John Nens, Ford’s director of global brand licensing, the program is really about “the essence of the brand” and forging brand relationships early on. The product categories being explored include apparel, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics, home décor and back-to-school partnerships.
It seems like a no-brainer: an underserved target market, dying to get a piece of the Mustang brand, a character from a wildly-popular movie franchise who drives a pink, monogrammed version of the car—and research that backs it all up. But, while the insight points to a great opportunity, the execution may be pointing toward disaster.
A simple web search of the term “pony girl” indicates that Ford and its licensing agency, the Beanstalk group, may have more work to do yet, in developing a strategy for execution that won’t have legions of mommy bloggers up in arms. Even among Mustang’s most passionate fans, the term “pony girl” has an entirely different meaning than the one likely intended for the tween consumer—just check out the photo galleries at any enthusiast website.
Could Ford be headed toward the same faux pas that forced Motrin to pull the baby-as-fashion ads that had Twitter ablaze with outraged mothers in November of last year?
--Guest Contributor: Alexandra Walford, IMC Graduate Student
3 comments:
Great post, Alex. Thanks to Hannah Montana and High School Musical, business are finally realizing the revenue potential with this demo. Looks like Ford is following in the footsteps of General Mills and McDonald's in creating products for a non-traditional audience.
Note to self: when developing a "lifestyle-driven licensing program"... hit up Google before settling on a name.
Scary.
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