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WASHINGTON — Pro football fans inundated with TV ads for brawny pickup trucks and sleek luxury models will get something different from Ford Motor Co. this season.
Ford, which has marketed its "Built Ford Tough" image during fall football seasons in the past, plans to heavily promote its all-new Taurus passenger car during the upcoming NFL season. Advertising during pro football games will be integrated into Ford's sponsorship of the Fox NFL Sunday Pre-Game Show and Web ads on fantasy football sites.
The move reflects Ford's high-stakes launch of the 2010 Taurus, the redesigned model which was the nation's best-selling car from 1992 to 1997 and now serves as a key part of CEO Alan Mulally's strategy to revitalize the company with family friendly fuel-efficient cars and crossovers.
The advertising, which kicks off with Sunday's NFL season openers, will include images of the Taurus on TV screens around the Fox studio, animated billboards of the vehicle during the broadcast and mentions of the "Ford Drive One" campaign going into and out of commercial breaks. Ford plans viewing parties on Sundays with the Taurus and a heavy presence on social networking sites.
Ford will continue to advertise trucks during football games, but the Dearborn, Mich., automaker wants to use the time slots to place a spotlight on Taurus and other passenger cars. With more buyers shunning trucks and SUVs for cars, Ford is using the prime advertising real estate — a typical pro football game can draw 20 million viewers — to showcase a more rounded-out fleet.
"Our lineup is really changing. We're not just the truck and Mustang company anymore," said Matt Van Dyke, Ford's director of marketing communications.
Michael Bernacchi, a University of Detroit marketing professor, said he expects automakers such as General Motors and Toyota to follow a similar strategy, placing less emphasis on pickup truck advertising during football games in favor of a more well-rounded lineup.
"It's not only the Taurus but I think we may see a promenade of other vehicles as well," Bernacchi said. "The NFL is the premiere sports leverage point and whatever you can drag along with it, especially as the economy is slowly recovering, is going to be beneficial."
Ford says the NFL marketing will comprise a substantial portion of its launch budget for Taurus. In keeping with other automakers, the company declined to release the amount it was spending on the campaign.
Ford is marketing Taurus, which starts at $25,995, to males, so the football viewership represents a target-rich audience. About 70 percent of football viewers are men and Fox Sports typically draws about 5 million viewers for its weekly pre-game show.
Amy Marentic, Ford's group marketing manager for North American cars and crossovers, said the automaker wanted to use the ad campaign to follow the activities of a typical guy during football season. He wakes up in the morning and checks his fantasy football lineup, he tunes into the pre-game show, watches some NFL games and then wraps up the evening by rechecking his fantasy football team or looking up stats on Web sites such as CBSsportsline.com, another site where Ford will advertise Taurus.
The advertising will also highlight some of the technological traits in Taurus that are generally found in higher-end cars, including features like adaptive cruise control, blind-spot detection and programmable keys that can limit teen drivers to 80 mph, using a computer chip in the key.
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