CNN.com 1/23/2006: "Ford will close 14 manufacturing plants in North America and cut up to 30,000 jobs in the coming years to try to stem losses and adjust to a new, significantly lower market share. 'If we build it, they'll buy it. That's business as usual and it's wrong,' said Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford . 'Our product plans for too long have been defined by our capacity. That's why we must reduce capacity in North America.'" Full story
Wow. The best statement of the old marketing in a sad event. "If we build it, they will buy it. That's business as usual, and it's wrong." Sadly, the response is to close plants (which I have no doubt is necessary in the short run). But the response should be the announcement of cars that people will truly get excited about. Not the recent announcement that they will be building a whole lot of hybrids by 2010. That's too late. I've been saying since 1972 that Detroit is in big trouble. That was before Japanese cars were even a major player. That was when Detroit failed to respond to the first gas shortage.NOTHING can withstand negative word of mouth for long. OK, it took decades, but it was a steady decline.
If you build it, they will buy, only if what you build is totally driven by what the consumer will rave about to their friends.
I take no pleasure in this triumph of word of mouth.
George Silverman
Word-of-Mouth Marketing Consultant
Author, The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing
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