S550 campaign sucks

[Red]

I don't think that the campaign sucks. Ford is playing things close to the vest, which is certainly their prerogative. I see pros and cons each way: close to the vest vs how GM handled the Camaro, evidently (I couldn't have cared less about it and did not follow it).

I think folks have whipped themselves into a frenzy, of their own doing, not Ford's. That's my perspective, remote as it may be.

Patience guys. It'll be out soon enough.

Sponsored

 

[Norm Peterson]

You must not have been around for the early 5th gen camaro days.

NOT the way to do it. The enthusiast community is the real buzz generator. But Ford seems more concerned with keeping it secret..... but thats just one man's opinion.

An other opinion . . . Ford doesn't have a Scott Settlemire.

3 years is extreme but it's better than nothing. I didn't think it was old when it came out. They sold a crapload of camaros with all that buzz and the online community rewarded them for it.

i can tell you a LOT of people held off on purchasing a new car after the camaro concept. For 3 long years and they hit the ground running after. The same would happen with the mustang if anyone had any inkling what it looks like.

Which would mean x number of years of depressed Mustang sales while people sit tight with whatever they have. 5th gen Camaro didn't face that prospect.


Norm

 

[K.Lysius]

An other opinion . . . Ford doesn't have a Scott Settlemire.

Is that the guy they call fbod father? Would be nice if Ford had a more grass roots level of involvement like that. Heard GM attends the big Camaro Fest enthusiast meet/event too. This site should put something like that together once the s550 is out.

 

[stangray11]

Yes it is.

I'm glad someone brought this up. This should be a new thread itself. Ford/Mustang absolutely NEEDS a guy like Settlemire. This has been a complaint of mine for so long. The only thing I envy about the Camaro guys is the great support their enthusiasts get from Chevy, and this all revolves around the relationship and interaction Chevy maintains, especially through Settlemire.

Take a look at the enthusiast communities for each and you'll see the result of the different approaches. The fragmentation of the Mustang community is attributable to a lack of a uniting figure like that. Having a GM employee who is intimately involved with the Camaro brand that actually takes the time out and cares enough to actively post on C5, answering people's questions, calming people down, giving morsels of info when he can, addressing widespread complaints, and generally rallying the troops.... Where is this from Ford for the Mustang online community? This is why we lack a C5 equivalent.

When I joined here, I said this has always been my hope for the 6th gen going forward, that Ford would take a bigger role... In my opinion, no better place to start than HERE and NOW. We Mustang faithful deserve this Ford, if you're reading this...............

addle:

 

[Binion]

Sorry but who is this guy? Is he just some GM service rep on the forums?

 

[Norm Peterson]

Nope. More like mid-level management, just not nearly as remote and inaccessible as most people at that level make themselves. Apparently he was a product manager during the 4th gen F-body run. I think I missed seeing him at a South Jersey Camaro Club car show by about an hour.


Norm

 

[let me ride]

Yes it is.

I'm glad someone brought this up. This should be a new thread itself. Ford/Mustang absolutely NEEDS a guy like Settlemire. This has been a complaint of mine for so long. The only thing I envy about the Camaro guys is the great support their enthusiasts get from Chevy, and this all revolves around the relationship and interaction Chevy maintains, especially through Settlemire.

Take a look at the enthusiast communities for each and you'll see the result of the different approaches. The fragmentation of the Mustang community is attributable to a lack of a uniting figure like that. Having a GM employee who is intimately involved with the Camaro brand that actually takes the time out and cares enough to actively post on C5, answering people's questions, calming people down, giving morsels of info when he can, addressing widespread complaints, and generally rallying the troops.... Where is this from Ford for the Mustang online community? This is why we lack a C5 equivalent.

When I joined here, I said this has always been my hope for the 6th gen going forward, that Ford would take a bigger role... In my opinion, no better place to start than HERE and NOW. We Mustang faithful deserve this Ford, if you're reading this...............

addle:

I couldn't agree more with this. Nothing irks me more than to have a bigger, longer-lasting and more loyal fan base than those guys but nothing even close to the kind of community and events that they put on over there. This kind of goes back to my original post. Ford just doesn't communicate with its enthusiast fan base the same way which I never understood. It's a huge benefit to them as well... helps build the community and keep it strong and they get great feedback too........ look at how much we played a part in avoiding the Probe disaster.

Also, it doesn't matter what Scott aka fbodfather does at Ford. He is middle management and helps run the shows. This is a good summary of it for people who aren't as familiar.

I did a search for his posts there and take a look at the type of things he does. This is a GM management guys... easing people's worries about future design, attending their camaro fest and speaking to fans, teling them to keep the faith. This is unheard of in the Ford world.

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6821437#post6821437

Seriously im no camaro/c5 fanboy just think we can all agree it would be awesome to have this kind of support from Ford.

 

[Maestro5.0]

To go back to the original intent of this thread, I will agree with OP that Ford has done surprisingly very little "ramp up" for the S550. Not saying it's better or worse, but it's definitely a different approach compared to 2005.

Mostly I'm surprised Ford didn't do any concepts this time around. Yes the camaro and challenger had years where it went out of production so a concept 3 years before production was obviously without the risk of affecting sales.

But in 2003, Ford showed 2 preproduction Mustang GT concept cars (a vert and coupe) at the Detroit auto show. To my recollection, sales of the 2003-04 did not take a nosedive like most are saying it would if Ford did more this time around.

 

[Bullitt3980]

I've been surprised there hasn't been any teaser concept cars--but I got no problem with Ford keeping things close to the vest. The car will be awesome I'm sure--I don't like spoilers--I was standing in line to watch a 9:00pm showing of Return of the Jedi and you know what the loud mouths had to say coming out of the 7:00pm show.

 

[Callie]

I did a search for his posts there and take a look at the type of things he does. This is a GM management guys... easing people's worries about future design, attending their camaro fest and speaking to fans, teling them to keep the faith. This is unheard of in the Ford world.

From what I know Settlemire is just some guy that hangs out in forums who happens to work for GM. In other words it wasn't some plan that GM had to have a presence on C5?

Ford could just not be as into the online stuff. every company is different...

 

[J.Darcy]

I've been surprised there hasn't been any teaser concept cars--but I got no problem with Ford keeping things close to the vest. The car will be awesome I'm sure--I don't like spoilers--I was standing in line to watch a 9:00pm showing of Return of the Jedi and you know what the loud mouths had to say coming out of the 7:00pm show.

Yea it's way too late for a concept anyways. If they haven't given a preview of the whole look, there's no point in doing it now. I think they should focus on teasers now and as other people here pointed out there s no better way than social media.

I'd love to see them use that new Vine thing from twitter like Acura just did with the new NSX concept:

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/30/acura-nsx-vine-instagram-video/

 

[Deroxas2.0]

From what I know Settlemire is just some guy that hangs out in forums who happens to work for GM. In other words it wasn't some plan that GM had to have a presence on C5?

Ford could just not be as into the online stuff. every company is different...

Yea doesn't seem like Ford is as into the social media and online forums thing. I've only been on Mustang forums but has anyone seen any Ford reps participating in any enthusiast forums for any Ford cars? I think if we had someone like that visit here he or she'd be a rockstar. But we'd probably run them off with all the non-stop questions and prodding we'd give them :lol:

 

[let me ride]

Yea doesn't seem like Ford is as into the social media and online forums thing. I've only been on Mustang forums but has anyone seen any Ford reps participating in any enthusiast forums for any Ford cars? I think if we had someone like that visit here he or she'd be a rockstar. But we'd probably run them off with all the non-stop questions and prodding we'd give them :lol:

Not that I know of but then again I'm not big on the other Ford car forms. Any one like Settlemire is gonna be a true fanboy who won't mind constant prodding from other members, far as i know he does it for the total love of it... isn't asked to do it, doesn't get paid for it etc. He knows his boundaries as far as what he can and can't reveal and even if he can't say anything he usually at least says something.

Ford might not be big on social media and I know their customer base is a little more bluecollar but if they wanna stay relevant there gonna have to start paying more attention to it. They have ford social, twitter, fb, but time to embrace the forums more.

 

[BlueVenom]

I've been surprised there hasn't been any teaser concept cars--but I got no problem with Ford keeping things close to the vest. The car will be awesome I'm sure--I don't like spoilers--I was standing in line to watch a 9:00pm showing of Return of the Jedi and you know what the loud mouths had to say coming out of the 7:00pm show.

Then you'll be happy to know Ken Block ain't talking either.

I tried asking him about the '15 Mustang and I'm not the only one that had that brilliant idea but all he said was :

http://jalopnik.com/ask-rally-ace-and-gymkhana-star-ken-block-anything-you-991752410

 

[zerot]

Thanks Ken. We have enough blue balls playing hard to get from Ford without your help thank you very much.

Sponsored