Ford Edsel. Car of the Future?
I was doing some research on some Ford parts and came across some Edsel parts available from a supplier. It made me chuckle a bit, then I remembered the marketing disaster that was the Edsel, and realized it actually may have done quite well in 2008.
In today’s world, everything is geared towards the user. Websites create accounts for visitors and attempt to display content, or products, that they believe the users will enjoy. Google and Yahoo display ads relative to what you are searching for (and in Google’s case, even based off words in your email). Whether it’s the search engines, Amazon.com or YouTube, it’s all about us. After all, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2006 was “You”!
What does this have to do with the Edsel? Ahead of the Edsel being available at dealerships, the advertising campaign from Ford was built around the notion of the Edsel having “more YOU ideas”.
Doesn’t that sound like the line from the latest MP3 player, or personal computer? Can’t you see that as a line touting the benefits of a highly personalized news page? Like CNN’s iReport, Reuters’ “You Witness News”, or even the latest, greatest, reality TV show?
Another example of Edsel’s potential as a backwards-in-time-traveler is it’s branding as an “E-Car”. If that doesn’t remind you of the the iPod, Ebay, eTrade, eHow or eCommerce, maybe nothing will.
The Edsel is considered, among other less-than-flattering traits, as a marketing failure. Though maybe nothing is a marketing failure. It’s all about timing.
So what recent marketing travesties may have found a better home in the future? How about the Premier Cigarette?
Born in 1988, and gone in 1989, the Premier was a smokeless cigarette. One of the “selling points” was that, being smokeless, it wouldn’t bother non-smokers in close proximity to someone getting their nicotine fix. Considering today’s ever-increasing bans on smoking in public, maybe the Premier has a chance in the not-so-distant future!
Maybe the Edsel does too…given a redesign that is.
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