PR Marketing Strategy– New or Old Idea?

Posted on by

I saw an article in Brandweek, as well as in other major newspapers that pitched the greatness of Chrysler offering “Lifetime” warranty for their power train to their vehicles. This sounds great, doesn’t it? Or is this a PR Marketing Strategy or a PR Promotion so that the lagging manufacturer can show consumers they are building better cars than their competitors. Well, one thing for sure, why now after all these years and overnight, can a manufacturer offer such great products?

Actually it has been going on for years. This marketing campaign and ad campaign for this PR Client isn’t new in the auto industry. Several years ago, about 17, Ford Motor Company had a similar campaign. They would give a lifetime warranty to any part that was installed in your car. This was not with the new cars, it was for any used Ford vehicle you had a part repaired. For example, if you owned a 1968 Mustang, and the alternator had to be replaced, the dealer/manufacturer would install another one with a lifetime warranty for as long as YOU owned the car. If you had the car for 20 years and it went bad again, it would be replaced for free. The problem was that FordPR Marketing Strategy never did any serious marketing with this great concept. Then one day we were called. Our agency was chosen at that time to develop the creative and publicity for this division. We won the campaign against many of the nationally known agencies. After finalizing the TV and print campaign, we received the bad news.

After a few years of the division being quiet about this concept, Ford canceled the entire PR Marketing Strategyprogram. I wonder if those people who had bought parts during that time are still covered?

So did Chrysler come up with a brilliant idea? Maybe not, but at least they are trying to get the word out. It might not bring thousands of people to the showrooms, but it will build a better brand loyalty and brand awareness to the name. Creating a brand is one thing, keeping that brand awareness is an on-going task. You should never feel that your marketing campaign is safe without any branding included. Keep your company’s brand awareness high with a smart PR Marketing Campaign.