More Tonk a Pom

It's getting boring Tonking Poms. People are now expecting tonks and tonkability is losing it's impact.

Or maybe not. Barry "The Dawson" Cougar has now been overtaken by Tonk a Pom as the biggest drawcard to the Jason Recliner.

I was talking about the whole Tonk a Pom thing to a colleague the other day, and we both agreed the same thing. As popular as Tonk a Pom is, it's probably doing an ordinary job for Ford's brand image.

Think about it. The whole 1970's backyard cricket thing roots Ford in the good old days - a relic of the past. The whole tonality of Tonk a Pom is one of yesteryear. Is that the optimal positioning for Ford? Maybe the research says it is, but when you're paying $30-40k for a new car, I seriously doubt it.

Or maybe it just seemed like a good idea at the time 'cos they sponsor the cricket and needed a cricket idea. A perfect case of the execution driving the strategy.

Secondly, car advertising only becomes relevant once you're in the market for a car. So if Tonk a Pom gets awareness for Ford over the summer period against new car buyers, then good job. But in my experience, all car advertising suddenly becomes relevant. So tone and manner have a big role to play in whittling the choice down to a select few.

So if you're heading off to lawn bowls, Ford might be starting to get pretty relevant.

Lastly, if the goal of the campaign was to drive people to the web site via Tonk a Pom, well....that's worked a treat. But then that's a hell of a lot of money to spend to drive people to a web site. Why not just give people a voucher for $1000 off a car...they'd probably sell more of them and it would cost less.

So whilst Tonk a Pom might be doing well with cricket punters who like playing a video game that sticks it up the poms, my guess is that European cars might be playing their own version of Tonk an Aussie on their sales spreadsheets.


The England slips fieldsmen poised for a catch