Ford Mustang Marketing Research I Spoke to SWOT

Ford Mustang

Marketing Research

I spoke to five male car owners in their 20s. Three of them had purchased a vehicle in the past two years, the other two had their cars for longer. None of them had purchased a Mustang, but one had a Camaro. The four that owned other types of cars indicated that they did not want a pony car for a number of different reasons, from gas prices to the fact that such cars did not suit their personalities. The other one chose the Camaro because it was the one that "felt right" and was unable to elaborate on that. The respondents, when asked to describe the brand's personality used terms like "fast," "muscle," and "cruising up and down the block." The consumers responded unanimously to the proposition that if the Mustang brand was attached to a different product, it would not make sense. The Mustang is very closely associated with that type of car. The person who owned a Camaro responded slightly different to the other three, in using the words "power" and "hot" to describe the Mustang.

Perner (2010) outlines the information search and decision making process. This process begins with problem recognition, and then leads to information search and evaluation of alternatives. The respondents appear to confirm Perner's description of this approach. The four who bought other types of cars were able to, in the course of their information search, easily classify the different options for their automotive needs. They ruled out not only the Mustang but the other cars in the class. The one respondent, however, appeared to do the opposite, and only considered between the three vehicles in this class (Challenger being the third). Perner's theory also incorporates post-purchase behaviors. For the respondent with the Camaro, it is interesting to know that the post-purchase behavior remains favorable to the Mustang -- though happy with his purchase, he seems open to other vehicles in the same class, and certainly more so than the other consumers, who were able to differentiate little between the different muscle cars, having never done any research on the type.

An interesting element of this research is that the Mustang does not effectively tap into the "should" aspect of the target market (Milkman, 2008). While the respondents were all generally in agreement about the nature of the product and the associations with the brand, four of the respondents did not feel sufficiently strong about the brand to consider it for purchase. They were uncompelled by the "should" and bought a more boring but practical car instead.

SWOT Analysis

The company is Ford Motor Company and the brand is the Mustang. In terms of financials, Ford's sales are $136 billion, and its cost of goods sold $117 billion. This leaves gross profit of $19.3 billion. This leaves 14.1% for the gross margin. The return on investment is 7.04 times. Ford is an industry leader with 16.2% of the U.S. auto market, which puts them behind General Motors, but ahead of Toyota and Honda (Ohnsman, 2011).

The major strengths of the brand are that it is widely known and carries strong associations. All of the members of the target market surveyed were not only aware of the brand but had fairly consistent traits associated with the brand. These strong associations also work against the brand, however. The Mustang is so clearly identified with one specific vehicle that there seems to be little opportunity to grow the brand or expand on its image. As a result, the Mustang brand is dependent on the strength of its category in general, and is only useful for competing in that…