Ford Motor Company recently announced that they are launching a Digital Advertising Program for Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers.  This program is being timed to correspond with the Dealer Co-Op advertising program that was kicked off in April, 2008.  What I find most interesting about this development is it marks the first time a major OEM has taken an effective course of action designed to leverage the buying power of their national Tier1 advertising buys to the benefit of their dealer network's Tier 3 media buying benefit.

Strategically, this sets the stage for the Ford and Lincoln Mecury brands to benefit from the infusion of well over $100M in additional online advertising media buys coming from a point of entry much closer to the consumer, and theoretically more aligned with regional and local markets.  Without doubt, the Ford Digital Advertising Program for Dealers is an innovative development that could provide competitive advantage to both the brand and the dealer network. 

BACKGROUND:

The recently launched Ford and Lincoln Mercury Tier 3 Co-Op advertising program includes Digital as an eligible component for reimbursement. In an effort to provide your dealerships the best Digital Advertising solutions currently available, we are pleased to announce the Ford and Lincoln Mercury Digital Advertising program.

This program leverages Ford's relationships with Top Internet providers to offer Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers with exclusive digital advertising opportunities and incentives. In addition, for those dealers who would like additional support, Ford has partnered with ADP to offer a complete digital advertising solution including training as well as management of dealership digital advertising.

This program is simply about giving Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealerships new advertising options, and offers will be constantly updated.

PROGRAM MATERIALS:

Materials for this program, as well as the current advertising offers available for June, are posted to the Lead Management portal within FMCdealer.com. For more information, go to FMCdealer.com, Select "Lead Management & Reporting" link, and then "Home Portal". A link to the Digital Advertising manual is under "Recent Updates" and will take you to the Training aids page where you must select "Show all". The guide is under "Job Aids".

QUESTIONS:

Contact the Digital Program Headquarters at 866-206-3995 or email them at digital@flmdmc.com

DEALER ENROLLMENT:

An online enrollment form for Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers to participate in this program has been set up at: www.flmdigital.com  

ACTION ITEM:

Ford and Lincoln Mercury Dealers who would like to receive a proposal from the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury Digital Advertising Program for Dealers can complete the online enrollment for an initial Search Engine Analysis at no charge to the dealer at: www.flmdigital.com