Sometimes, a company will stick with the same tagline for years. There are a few examples of that in the automotive industry, such as BMW’s Ultimate Driving Machine and Lexus’ “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection.” Having the same, defined message helps brand identity – if you can find one that really sticks. Volkswagen’s recent “Das Auto” has fit the company perfectly, and we’re finding that most people really associate it with VW.
On the other end of the spectrum is let’s say, Buick. Over the past few years Buick has had so many tag lines. “The Spirit of American Style”, “Beyond Precision”, “Drive Beautiful”, “The New Class of World Class,” Yeah, and that’s just the ones we can remember. For Ford the slogan has been “Drive One.” It was introduced in 2006 as a new generation of products were being launched.
That was back when Toyota was on a roll and the domestics weren’t considered as much by consumers. “Drive One” was designed to get people to take a look at Ford again – which incidentally was also the goal of the tagline before that. “If You Haven’t Looked at a Ford lately…look again.” It was a lot clunkier way of saying the same thing.
Fast forward to today and Ford is in a very different position than it was in 2006. It is recognized as a technological leader and its new cars are consistently rated at the top of their class. Vehicles like the Ford Explorer, Taurus and Focus. These cars look to be top contenders in their segments. To reflect its new position as a leader in the marketplace, Ford has announced a new slogan…..”Go Further.” It will be launching across the world later this year – it is already being used for advertisements in Europe. While not terribly original or clever, we think this fits where Ford is at right now very well.
