Juice

I sent Mr Garfield a letter.

Mr. Garfield,

I recently read your article concerning Ford's Mustang Cornfield Commercial. Apparently, you know less about Mustangs and Mustang fans than you do about advertising. In the Automotive world, there are few vehicles with the history and loyal following as the Mustang. The only one that comes close is the Corvette. Add into the mix the fact that the Mustang is priced within the reach of just about every American, and you have an Icon. And Icon's don't need flashy hip music, bebop jingles and such.

Every person I have met, who has seen the car or the commercial has been impressed enough to talk about it the next day. That includes my 23 year old neighbor, 60 year old co-worker and 17 year old daughter. The 23 year old is a Chevy truck man and the 60 year old drives a Pacifica. But they all agree the Steve McQueen spot is cool. In Wisconsin, most people head to the beer cooler during commercials. With the Cornfield spot, I have heard people say, hey hang on, you have to see this.

You mention that the Mustang is a boring vehicle. Why? Because it doesn't have a GPS, hands free phone and a power back scratcher? Again, I point out that you are missing the point. The Mustang is a driver's car. Maybe, while I drive mine, I'm not really concerned about GPS, because I am having so much fun driving it who cares about playing video games with a GPS. There must be something cool about the car, because one local dealer has a line every day to test drive his demo and has written 25 orders in three days.

I am not a Ford employee or in any other way affiliated with Ford In fact, I am a 43 year old father of two, and I work at a Midwestern power plant as a technical instructor. In my job, we expect feedback if we miss the mark and use that feedback in future presentations. I just feel that your review was off the mark on the Mustang Cornfield Commercial.

Mike Pajewski
Two Rivers, WI :nono:

MustangMan311

Definitely one of the best ones yet Mike, very hatefully, yet nicely done

Juice

Mr. Garfield apparently works pretty late. He replied to my e-mail already. And his answer was somewhat civilized.

"well, at least you didn't call me a moron, like the
other 25 emailers.
whether mustang enthusiasts are excited about the new
mustang is sort of besides the point, in my view. (by
the way, i've owned one recently. hated it.)
the question is whether this ad will bring the rest of
the target audience into the fold. i'm guessing no.
we'll see.
yours,
bg"

So he has owned a Mustang in the past and it's not his cup of tea. Some one posted earlier that if he didn't like the car, he probably wouldn't like the ad. I'm not in marketing, except for the consumer. But as Americans, we all have the right to agree to disagree. It will be interesting to see if he comments on the response to his article in future columns.

2005muzzy

I got a reply from David Klein- publishing director
It reads like this


Dear Anthony,
I've forwarded your note onto the editor of Ad Age for his persual. Personally I like the new mustang, though not as nearly as much as the 60's version, which my dad owned. I also like the commercials, to be honest, but then, I'm not a critic. Anyway, we appreciate your writing, and thanks for reading Ad Age.
I bet we were the talk of the AD Age office today. I also bet that Bob Garfield was hiding under his desk all day also. He'll probably call in sick tomorrow. What a boob!!!!

dke

As a Mac Enthusiast and writer, I dealt with these kind of campaigns all the time. (Grass roots responses where people were getting pissed off at the incompetence and inaccuracies of writers, all the time). The problem is that the attacks and insults give the authors ammo to ignore the fanatics, and in fact, mock them.

"I got 500+ emails from a bunch of insulting kids, all calling me names or insulting me". VERY VERY VERY VERY rarely did they get the point; which was the errors they made in the first place to earn the ire and backlash. So if you think you did good by lashing out, you're probably mistaken.

Think of a yourself in high school or college. The teacher asks if anyone knows the answer, and you reply, "what are you too stupid to know that it is X", and then the teacher goes back to reply, "actually, it is X + Y + Z, and if you weren't such a loud-mouth, you'd know that". It isn't a civil exchange, and both go back thinking the other is a rude idiot that is wrong. We tend not to listen as well to caustic people that are intentionally trying to be insulting or embarrassing us. If you are polite and disagree (and accurately correct his mistakes), then you take away the ammo (his bruised ego) that allows him to discount your point of view -- and increases the chances that he'll learn something -- other than what he thinks he's learned, "which is Mustang people are a bunch of fanatics that missed my point".

Robert

Take a good look at the writing. His article is actually EXTREMELY well-written. Unfortunately, his facts are off and his opinions, misguided.

jgsmuzzy

That is what I was going to do, write to his editor!!!

That guy will be relegated to tea-boy before he can say "2004......D'OH"

Good mails everyone, made thoroughly enjoyable lunch-time reading!

Blu

Better idea....write Keith Crain, Chairman of Crain Communications. Mr. Crain is a car guy and Chairman of the Board at Detroit's College for Creative Studies. In fact, his name is on the Transportation Design Studio (where the chief designer of the S197 graduated). He is the publisher for Automotive News and the Editorial Director for AutoWeek. He knows this car and he knows the industry. He would appreciate the article and our responses more than Mr. Garfield's boss.

KCrain@crain.com

Clyde

I just want to know when Elton John died :notnice:

"film magic has given careers-from-beyond to Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, ELTON JOHN, and many others."

HammyZTS

He replied to me as well. I called him a hack. He told me in his rebuttle that he used to review cars before he got into advertising. yeah right. If this were true he wouldn't have said half the things he wrote in his article. He is just an ad critic trying to sound omniscient to his reading public.

RudyPearl

Here is the reply he sent me:

YOU MAY BE RIGHT. ENJOY YOUR CAR.

hispony

I think it's sad that little Katie has been parked in front of the (babysitter) television for so long she can quote Mr. Ed. :nono:
Momemt of silence for the passing of Elton John. Can anyone e-mail him and tell him he's dead?

afcop13

Are any of you Country Music fans? Anyone know the Toby Keith song, "The Critic"? It is about a music critic who always gives shining reviews, goes in to ask for a raise, his boss says, "I can't even tell if anyone is reading your page." So the guy goes out and guns down the next hot young act to come into town and then in come the letters, the emails and faxes. In the end, the critic gets the raise because the people were finally reading his article.

How many here had ever heard of this guy before this?

He may have gotten the response he was looking for. Just my .02.

erasmus

I think the reference to Elton John being dead was an atempt at humor. Atleast I thought it was funny.

I8URVTEC

My question is did this guy even WATCH the commercial or did he just hear about it and write about it. B/C it clearly says at the end..."the 2005 Ford Mustang." And yet he still wrote 2004. I remember when I was in school and you missed a detail like that and the teacher immedatly knew you were B.S.ing b/c you were up all night partying rather than actually doing credible work. :P

MustangMan311

I got my reply. He called the '2004' mistake a typo, which I highly doubt was one. And I don't think he got my point, with my name distracting him.

Lalo

i found it funny too. just that too many people took it seriously, which is pretty funny also lol. lighten up guys!
i was "d'ohing" every time i saw someone sending a letter saying that elton john is still alive
he's probably thinking that us mustang enthusiasts are not the sharpest nails in the box. :bang:

SirWindsor

Dear Mr. Garfield,

Personally i appreciate your dissenting opinion on the new 2005 Mustang. But your column did not dig deep enough. I think you took your perceptions of the commercial, without a full understanding of the target audience and rated it 1.5 out of 5. I've seen a few japanese commercials and they are terrible, but they are not aimed at me. A quick look at the statistics JWT is probably working with:

60% of all mustang buyers are female (in a given model year)the large majority of which buy the V6 model.
30% of all mustang buyers are male (of course) of which the large majority buy GT's.
The GT owners are widespread in age from early 20's to early 50's.
The male GT buyer has a significantly higher percent of being a repeat buyer than the female customers.
The mustang aftermarket is the gorilla of aftermarket segments weighing in at $800 million a year. Meaning mustang owners, spend more money on their cars than anyone else.

Knowing these numbers; if you ask any top Ford executive they will tell you that this male audience is one of their most loyal, most passionate customers. They are most likely responsible for their word of mouth sales. They are varying degrees of car-nuts, motor-heads and generally automotive enthusiasts. It would also be safe to say that these male customers are americans and love their movies, more specifically movies with cars. True car enthusiasts know that the movie "Bullitt" set the bar high with it's groundbreaking car chase scene. If you know about the Mustang production history, in 2001 Ford built a special edition limited production GT titled "Bullitt" which resembles the fastback McQueen drove in the movie. I guess that would be a new era in car making "movie car" editions; and the "Bullitt" mustang sold very well.

Now knowing a little more about the target audience JWT was shooting for i think you could understand this was not a miss. Being a ad "expert" i'm sure you would agree that it would be difficult for JWT to create a commercial for the larger target, female, non-loyal, base-model V6 buyer. Maybe the commercial would be something like a mustang, two girls, best friends, heading out to the club, singing some strange sorotity song, a car full of guys pulls up hooting, jeering and the female driver steps on it and drives away. "built for the road ahead. Ugh!! that would hit the target but i think the male buyers would revolt over that one. And wouldn't fit well with the introduction of the first new Mustang in 25 years.

The 'cornfield' commercial was a big thank you card for the cornerstone of mustang buyers, the repeat buyer, the loyalist, the car enthusiast, the GT owner. And it was a home run and JWT wouldn't be too concerned that your daughter or you didn't get it, the commercial wasn't aimed at you.

regards,

Josh

p.s. Elton John isn't dead yet? too bad. haha Despite your dislike for the Mustang (not everyone will think the new mustang looks good) it is the worlds best selling sports car.

ZERO

ummm...

is that guy retarted? first off the car is great...so he's way off on that.

but what planet does he live on? he says that elton john has a career from beyond the grave. last time i checked, the rocket man was still alive.

JessicaRabbitt

Sir Windsor, very well written letter..

Although, I think every female GT owner on this board will have issue with you questioning our loyalty, enthusiansism, and passion for our GTs.

While I agree that most female Mustang owners own V6s, (Really dont know why to be honest) the numbers of GT owners are increasing, and those of us who are buying our second, third, fourth, etc, are just as much of a motor head as some of you guys buying your first.

I think us female GT owners need to rise up and be counted. I have seen plenty of my sisterhood checking under the hood of the 05 GT.. and before that, I have seen plenty driving GTs.

Maybe its just where I am living, maybe its just how I grew up.. mom racing stock cars, dad owning Mustangs.. but I have two friends with GTs. One has a red 69 GT, and another has a Black 03 GT.

You boys need to understand a bumper sticker I had made: "Silly Boys, GTs are for CHICKS"

Maybe in the end, I am just an anamoly with my gal pals, hmmm, should I start an all girl Mustang Club in here Cali?