Ford Transit Across America Promotion

FORD TRANSIT CONNECT ACROSS AMERICA PUTS SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS BEHIND THE WHEEL

• Ford takes an innovative “mobile showroom” featuring the 2010 Transit Connect to 13 markets, offering test drives to prospective customers; Ford also visiting small-business owners across the country for one-on-one test drive experiences and vehicle reviews
• All test drive participants are entered into a sweepstakes, with an upfitted 2010 Transit Connect going to the winner
• Transit Connect advertising campaign launches in June with emphasis on the vehicle’s broad appeal to a wide variety of small businesses

DEARBORN, Mich., May 14, 2009 – Ford Motor Company is announcing a new campaign to put some 3,000 small-business owners and consumers in 13 major cities behind the wheel of the 2010 Transit Connect commercial van – even before the vehicle reaches dealer showrooms this summer.

The multi-part “Transit Connect Across America” campaign kicks off on May 17 in Washington, D.C., at the National Small-Business Week conference and includes:

• Test drives with consumers at busy retail locations in 13 cities around the country;
• Individual one-on-one drive experiences and full vehicle reviews at small businesses;
• Sponsorship of small business conferences;
• Print advertising, beginning with June issues of several business publications.

“Transit Connect is a brand-new offering for small businesses in the United States,” said Len Deluca, Ford’s director of Commercial Vehicles. “We call it a ‘white space’ vehicle because there is nothing else like it on the market. With its unique combination of great capacity, compact size and fuel economy, the Transit Connect will appeal to business owners who have had to make do with other vehicles that weren’t just right.”

To experience the versatile Transit Connect, Ford is offering customers an opportunity to drive the Transit Connect over a pre-planned course designed to highlight the vehicle’s maneuverability and usefulness. The drives will be set up under tents in the parking lots of busy retail locations – frequented by professionals and consumers alike – across the country.

Additionally, small businesses in key markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles and New York will receive one-on-one drives and vehicle reviews at their places of business.

Ford also will showcase Transit Connect to small-business professionals at two major conferences this summer including the National Small Business Week, hosted by the Small Business Association, in Washington, D.C., May 17-19, and the Women in Business National Conference and Business Fair in San Francisco June 9-11.

Test drive a Transit Connect, win one
As part of the campaign, Ford also is announcing a national sweepstakes offering prospective customers a chance to win one of the latest tools to better manage their business. Small-business proprietors and consumers experiencing a test drive will be entered in a sweepstakes to win a 2010 Ford Transit Connect van – specifically customized with upfitted equipment to meet the unique needs of their individual business. The winner’s Transit Connect also will be wrapped with customized graphics to serve as a rolling billboard for their business.

The sweepstakes winner will be announced in the fall of 2009. More information is available by email at info@driveatransitconnect.com or on the Web at www.fordvehicles.com/transitconnect.

Integrated Marketing
A final element of the campaign is its unusual print advertising, launching in key business magazines and on Web sites in June. The ads underscore the vehicle’s versatility and capability, including its generous payload capacity – up to 1,600 pounds.

The creative executions illustrate diametrically opposed small businesses – a pastry chef and a personal trainer – both claiming that Ford was “thinking of me” during the vehicle’s development. Transit Connect’s applicability to diverse commercial uses comes together with the tagline, “specific for everyone.”

The advertisements will appear in Entrepreneur, Fortune Small Business, Inc., Business Week: Small Biz, Catering and American Painting Contractor.

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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 205,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.