Bloomberg News There’s a new face of Ford Motor Co. The automaker struggling with fading fortunes and a sinking stock is seeking to get its swagger back with a series of ads debuting this weekend featuring Bryan Cranston, the star of the award-winning series “Breaking Bad,” and his wry, no-nonsense demeanor. Using the slogan “Built Ford Proud,” the commercials push back on the popular notion that Silicon Valley is on the verge of delivering driverless and flying cars. A commercial for the Escape sport utility vehicle takes a not-so-subtle shot at Tesla. While the compact crossover has never been shot into space, as Elon Musk’s Roadster was earlier this year, it “proudly sits in over 2 million garages,” Cranston says in a craggy baritone. Another spot mocks tech gurus’ penchant for pontificating about the future, while Ford has been building vehicles for 115 years. “Let the other guys keep dreaming about the future,” Cranston says, driving through the desert in a pickup with the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” playing the background. “We’ll be the ones building it.” Ford has failed to keep today’s models fresh and floundered in its attempts to get Wall Street interested in its plans to shape the future of transportation. Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares Friday to the equivalent of a hold, expressing skepticism about its turnaround strategy. After profit fell by more than half in the second quarter, Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett announced an $11 billion restructuring that will take as long as five years. Moody’s Investors Service has cut the carmaker’s credit rating to one level above junk. Its stock trades at the lowest since November 2009. “The market needs more evidence of success before embracing the Ford restructuring story,” Morgan Stanley’s analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to investors, which also criticized the automaker for not providing details of its revival plan. “We had hopes that Ford management would move the other way with transparency and increase engagement with investors on long-term strategy.” Ford fell as much as 3.8 percent Friday and was down 0.9 percent to $8.43 as of at 10:27 a.m. in New York trading. The shares have been trading at their lowest since November 2009. The ads by Ford and Wieden + Kennedy – the agency behind Nike’s Colin Kaepernick commercial – will reach 90 percent of American adults, according to the automaker. They’re aimed at changing the negative narrative with plenty of attitude and punch lines, including one of Hackett’s favorite bromides: “It’s better to be right than first.” Whereas fans of the AMC series “Breaking Bad” might see Walter White, the meth-dealing high school chemistry teacher who drove a beat-up Pontiac Aztek and ominously warned “I’m the one who knocks,” Ford sees Cranston, 62, as an authentic voice who can change minds about where the company is heading. “He has a kind of swagger to get down to the essence of things, and we think that’s really important nowadays,” Jim Farley, president of global markets, told reporters this week in Las Vegas, where the ads were first shown to Ford’s dealers. “He just captures that no-baloney, real honesty that frankly we don’t hear much of any more.” One of the ads mocks Silicon Valley’s attempts to create flying cars by showing a racing Mustang muscle car going airborne over a hill. Cranston dryly intones: “Contrary to what you’re about to see, the Ford Motor Company does not condone, nor build, flying cars.” “We’re honest about the cultural context we’re operating in,” said Matt VanDyke, Ford’s director of U.S. marketing. “There’s all this talk, and we’ve got a 115-year heritage of doing and building and backing it up by making a car every 5.4 seconds. We’re ready to speak with an attitude of pride and confidence.” Ford is lagging behind Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and General Motors in putting driverless cars on the road. Waymo, formerly Google’s self-driving car project, plans to deploy robo-taxis in Phoenix this year, while GM intends to begin a similar service in the U.S. next year. Ford has said it’ll have a money-making business involving robot rides ready for 2021. While the ads nod to Ford’s ambition to field driverless cars and tackle urban congestion, they mostly focus on new models arriving next year: a rugged Ranger pickup and redesigned versions of its two top-selling SUVs, the Escape and Explorer. Seventy-five percent of its models will be new by 2020. The ads are aimed at keeping Ford’s millions of long-time customers in the fold. As the automaker has struggled and its lineup has aged, customer loyalty began to slip, Farley said. “When you have a moment like we’ve had as a company, you’ve got to look in the mirror and say, ‘What can we change to make it better?’ And it was a long list,” Farley said. “It all added up to the same thing: We’ve got to get serious about loyalty. The biggest ah-ha moment was when we saw our lead shrinking” in customer loyalty. Even before the new products arrive, Ford is finding ways to squeeze more profit out of its existing lineup by focusing on each model as its own business, Farley said. Moves like better allocating vehicles to geographic areas that’ll yield the biggest bucks will start making a difference to earnings in the coming quarters, he predicted. “Ford just seems to be at its best when it can make a comeback,” Farley said. “This week is the first step.”<doc-sep>DETROIT – Actor Bryan Cranston is starring in a new Ford ad campaign that will appear on TV and digital platforms this weekend. Here's a commercial for the "Built Ford Proud" campaign: Ford is pushing a new lineup of trucks and SUVs that includes bringing back the midsize Ranger pickup to North America. That's expected to be available in the U.S. in fall 2019. In addition to the Ranger, Escape and Explorer, Ford is launching in 2019 the new Mustang GT500, new F-Series Super Duty and new Transit full-size van. An all-new fully electric performance utility is coming in 2020.<doc-sep>Once registered, you can: - Read additional free articles each month - Comment on articles and featured creative work - Get our curated newsletters delivered to your inbox first_name: last_name: email: Register Now By registering you agree to our privacy policy, terms & conditions and to receive occasional emails from Ad Age. You may unsubscribe at any time. Are you a print subscriber? Activate your account.<doc-sep>A new video from Ford highlights the company's high-tech future, including possibly providing our very first look at the upcoming hybrid Mustang. The vehicle makes only a brief appearance in the Bryan-Cranston-hosted ad, but it's the most electrifying moment in the whole clip. Within just a few seconds of video, the commercial shows an old Mustang and a modern one. After taking a look under the hood, the front end changes and reveals a much different look for the pony car. The grille features new trim that largely closes off the opening, and there's an illuminated pony logo. The lower fascia also appears to have a simpler shape than on the existing vehicle. The view under the hood shows a V8 under there. However, it's not clear whether the hybrid Mustang would actually use this engine or if this is just for illustrative purposes. Ford isn't offering many details about the powertrain yet. In an earlier statement, the company said the setup would offer “V8-like performance” and said at another time there would be "even more low-end torque." For reference, the 5.0-liter V8 in the 2018 Mustang GT produces 460 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque, so the hybrid model should be plenty powerful. Admittedly, putting a V8 in the engine bay would be an easy way to assure that V8-like performance. However, it's possible there could be fewer cylinder pumping away, and the hybrid assistance would make up the difference. According to the most recent rumors, the hybrid Mustang arrives shortly after the combustion-powered, next-gen model in 2021. It electrified model would only be available in North America at first. Source: Ford Motor Company via YouTube via Car and Driver<doc-sep>
2019 Ford Ranger Source: Ford Motor Co. Ford, which is wrestling with slowing sales and a stock price at its lowest level in nine years, is trying to overhaul its image and juice its sales with a new ad campaign. "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston anchors the new "Built Ford Proud" ad campaign that kicks off with a series of television commercials set to air during college football games this weekend. "Talk doesn't get things done, building does ... like we have for the last 115 years," Cranston says against a variety of scenes that poke fun at today's high-tech visionaries while touching on the company's historical American roots and "Built Ford Tough" slogan of past campaigns. "Let the other guys keep dreaming about the future. We'll be the ones building it." The ads come at a crucial time for Ford. Its overall U.S. sales are down 2.4 percent this year and Ford brand sales have fallen 11.3 percent. By comparison, it's being outperformed by the rest of the auto industry's sales, which are down by an average of less than 1 percent. GM's sales are down 1.2 percent this year and Fiat Chrysler's are up 6.4 percent. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas downgraded Ford's stock Friday, saying its earnings and cash flow are under pressure and its dividend is at risk. "Every Ford employee I know comes to work each day proud to drive a Ford vehicle and to build great products, services and experiences for our customers," Joy Falotico, Ford group vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement. "That's at the heart of this campaign." For years, Ford's tag line, "Built Ford Tough" has been an effective and memorable marketing slogan. But with sales lagging and the company preparing to launch a number of new vehicles including an all-new mid-size pickup truck, Ford decided it was time to refresh its image. Over the next two years, Ford plans to replace three-quarters of its lineup of vehicles and start phasing out many of the cars it currently sells. "This is a big step in the right direction for Ford's marketing," said Jeremy Acevedo, manager of industry analysis for the auto website Edmunds.com. "It gives the company a voice to the sweeping changes it has planned." He called it a "breath of fresh air for the dealers, especially given the aging lineup of cars and trucks in showrooms." While the new ad campaign will be welcomed by Ford dealers, it's unclear the marketing move will do much to change how investors view Ford shares. The stock is down 30 percent since June and hovers at its lowest level since 2009. At the heart of the sell-off is mounting questions on Wall Street about Ford's plans to restructure its operations. In a research note to clients earlier this week, Consumer Edge analyst Jamie Albertine wrote, "We remain concerned about the lack of detail supporting management's vision for the company." Ford is scheduled to report third quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Questions? Comments? .