Do Awards Sell Cars?

Ford is launching a new ad campaign touting its recent success in J.D. Power’s Initial Quality awards, where five of its models took home prizes, more than any other automaker. The tagline for the campaign is “Put the pedal to our medals.” We admit it, that’s kind of clever. Ford is also beefing up the cash back on the F-150 pickup and new F-250 Super Duty by $1,000 and $500 respectively. 

When we hear of moves like this new ad campaign we naturally wonder: “Does this really work?”

That means we’re asking you: Will awards and ads about quality bring you into the showroom or make you consider a Ford product?

Ford Launches Ads, Deals (The Detroit News)

Related
Current Incentives (Cars.com)
Ford Models Top New J.D. Power Quality List; Mercedes Radically Improves (KickingTires)

Comments

I don't think that people pay that much attention to awards, but it really can't hurt. Personally I think the awards that they are touting are worthless. The Initial Quality awards are based on the first 90 days of ownership, and really, who cares about a cars quality for ONLY the first 90 days? I understand that they intend that to forecast a cars long term reliability, but I really don't see that in the stats.

The value JD Power is suspect, since the rankings can change dramatically from year to year. What if you buy a car 2007 based on a 2006 quality ranking only find out in 2008 that 2007 wasn't that great? Therefore, only a company year-over-year reputation matters (this subjective, of course).

Give me the pulse on an owners feelings about a car they've had for 5 years and 50k miles. Now that's data. Think about that JD. I'd be glad to fill in that survey if asked about my 5+ year old BMW that toasts cam sensors on an annual basis.

I don't think the awards foster much attention. But, I understand why Ford would tout its awards, based on all of the negative publicity the company has gotten of late.

I agreed with Jenki.

I've always been stunned that advertising works at all. But it does, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it help some, but don't expect this to turn the automotive world on it's head. Word of mouth advertising is still the most powerful form.

Spot on, Dan. (Dan #1, maybe? LOL!)
Positive word of mouth is what Ford/GM/Whatever-the-heck-Chrysler-will-be-called needs the most in order to turn around YEARS (decades?) of bad reputations. Ford's new ads are nice and all, but someone who has been a loyal Toyota/Hyundai/Honda buyer won't look at these and say, "Great, let's trade our Camry in for one of them Fusions!"

It doesn't help when SOME advertisers make up awards for them to tout.

I remember some horrid ad for a Pontiac Grand Am in the 90's that said something about "Rated by US CARS Magazine a Top Pick!"
(or something equally generic)

I think informed shopers should be aware of every award company's pre existing bias.

Car&Driver favors BMWs
Consumer Reports favors conservative vehicles
J.D. Power likes Lexus (usually)
And Cars.com's message board likes Crown Vics.

hahaha.

At one time in the mid 80s,Plymouth was touted as the "Best built,best backed American Cars"...so if it was,why wasnt the identical Dodge and Chrysler? Goes to show,these ratings mean nothing,they can all be skewed any way the manufacturers would like you to believe...

The only large scale publication that isn't funded (mainly or partially) by elements of the car industry is Consumer Reports --and they give special consideration to mainstream ("appliance") aspects (i.e., reliability, fuel efficiency, safety, comfort and practicality) rather than aspects of primary interest to "enthusiasts", such as performance, handling and looks. For the latter, the only publication that seems pretty honest --if not entirely objective-- is Car and Driver (pretty amazing when you consider how much of their budget depends on advertising by the automotive industry). To me, J. D. Power has always seemed dubious. As pointed out above, their surveys don't seem based on any statistically valid samplings, and, in any case, they emphasize subjective impressions of new or nearly new cars rather than more long-term or quantitatively measurable criteria. They invariably give high grades to some car maker known for its quality and reliability --Lexus and Toyota come to mind-- in order to lend credibility to their ratings of more questionable brands (such as Lincoln and, yes, Jaguar) with whom they appear to have some sort of special arrangement.

Searching back thru historical archives,Both Plymouth AND Chrysler claimed "best built,best backed American cars" for both 1984 and 1985,Chrysler based this on NHTSA recalls for model years 1982 and 1983 with the Chrysler/Plymouth division having the lowest forced recalls by NHTSA.Ford however in a 1984 ad blasted the Chrysler claim by going with JD Power reports claiming Ford had the best built cars.Where did this leave poor old GM and its X cars,new J cars,and new A-body cars? At the bottom of the heap.