FPV Retrenchments

**Bluehoon** · 19-01-2007, 09:50 PM

Was speaking to some people this afternoon..

As part of a management restrusture at FPV, the head managers for sales & marketing, product management, and communications were retrenched today.

Press release to soon be released....

perhaps the force wasn't all it was cracked up to be????

Any confirm?

XA Coupsta · 19-01-2007, 09:53 PM

Gee if thats true........I feel for those people who just got retrenched.

Not a good sign when a company starts shedding staff.

Scott · 19-01-2007, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XA Coupsta

Gee if thats true........I feel for those people who just got retrenched.

Not a good sign when a company starts shedding staff.

Nah, that's not shedding staff, that's cleaning out deadwood. When the Indians start getting layed off we can worry.

SpoolMan · 19-01-2007, 09:54 PM

I heard about this also, unless someone else knows anything???
we have to wait for a press announcement.

b2tf · 19-01-2007, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluehoon

Was speaking to some people this afternoon..

As part of a management restrusture at FPV, the head managers for sales & marketing, product management, and communications were retrenched today.

Press release to soon be released....

perhaps the force wasn't all it was cracked up to be????

Any confirm?

Maybe it's because they didnt do anything?

Sales and marketing - marketing? Where?
Communications who are FPV? huh? They make GT's now?

Nobody likes losing their job but here's hoping that the restructure actually makes some noticable changes.

**Bluehoon** · 19-01-2007, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

Maybe it's because they didnt do anything?

Sales and marketing - marketing? Where?
Communications who are FPV? huh? They make GT's now?

Nobody likes losing their job but here's hoping that the restructure actually makes some noticable changes.

I agree totally... There was/is too much deadwood from Tickford days... Stale staff....

Sad to see jobs go, but if they can't perform and cut the mustard...

[Tonko] · 19-01-2007, 10:46 PM

they had marketing staff?

AUIII XR8 MAN · 19-01-2007, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonkoXR8

they had marketing staff?

Must of, because they are now retrenched.

uranium_death · 19-01-2007, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonkoXR8

they had marketing staff?

Yeah...but to generate fresh ideas, they played pool, drank coffee and ate nachos.

It didn't work.

Hence...

EXECJIM · 20-01-2007, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonkoXR8

they had marketing staff?

No wonder they were given the flick, I havent seen much done by them

:

As long as they keep the real (hands on/plastic fitters) workers employed there, there should no difference there

:

Some companies are just too "top heavy"

19-01-2007, 11:24 PM

Sak has been sacked..

And some bloke that's Asia-Pacific Managing Director, Bryan Mears I think his name is is taking over. There will also be an increase in sales staff.

b2tf · 19-01-2007, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RATT

Sak has been sacked..

i thought they brought him in to kick some butt?!

now he's the owner of said butt....

SpoolMan · 19-01-2007, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RATT

Sak has been sacked..

And some bloke that's Asia-Pacific Managing Director, Bryan Mears I think his name is is taking over. There will also be an increase in sales staff.

Hi Dean, did this happen this week?

20-01-2007, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpoolMan

Hi Dean, did this happen this week?

I would say so.

XR6TickfordBoy · 19-01-2007, 11:32 PM

I was going to apply/ attempt to apply for a graduate postion at FPV as I graduate in marketing and management this year, looks like that's certainly not gonna happen!

MITCHAY · 19-01-2007, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR6TickfordBoy

I was going to apply/ attempt to apply for a graduate postion at FPV as I graduate in marketing and management this year, looks like that's certainly not gonna happen!

Well if you're any good at what you do, what would you have to worry about?

You can't expect a company to keep people, if the companies expectations aren't being meant. That's business for you.

rodderz · 20-01-2007, 12:00 AM

I knew a bloke who went for a job there not long ago for an important position, not sure if this position is part of the retrenchment. The guy who got the job was Uncle Geoff's son

gtfpv · 20-01-2007, 12:15 AM

well , i dont know . but from my limited knowledge i believe that FPV'S marketing isn't and never have been in the league of HSV's so i think it's about time that changed and i hope it does for the ford enthusiasts sake.

Sledgehammer · 20-01-2007, 08:49 AM

Any more news here?

Scott · 20-01-2007, 09:13 AM

Agreed gtfpv, the HSV spin machine has done an brilliant job along with their merchandising crew.

sfr rob · 20-01-2007, 09:29 AM

oh well, as someone else said, probably just getting rid of dead wood!
Still dont know why Ford would have to put out a press release, it's not exactly that interesting!

XRchic · 20-01-2007, 09:40 AM

Maybe they can get someone in who can actually do the job. What did the last FPV add look like?

Maybe someone has been reading all of the general comments and complaints on AFF about Ford/FPV marketing or lack thereof and did something!!!

b2tf · 20-01-2007, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRchic

Maybe they can get someone in who can actually do the job. What did the last FPV add look like?

The ONLY TV ads I can ever remember seeing for FPV was the 2003 one when GT first came out (in the carpark and the boom gate thingy gets scared of the car), and the ones with the Typhoon etc during V8SC rounds.

Other than that I have never seen a tv ad for an FPV product during normal viewing.

XR8 Uterous · 20-01-2007, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

The ONLY TV ads I can ever remember seeing for FPV was the 2003 one when GT first came out (in the carpark and the boom gate thingy gets scared of the car), and the ones with the Typhoon etc during V8SC rounds.

Other than that I have never seen a tv ad for an FPV product during normal viewing.

What about the one with the new GT and the classic GT racing around bathurst?

BadMac · 20-01-2007, 11:07 AM

I heard they have created a new senior position. GM Stickers and he will have a lot more staff to design and cut out the new decals for future upgrades.

Lagom · 20-01-2007, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

The ONLY TV ads I can ever remember seeing for FPV was the 2003 one when GT first came out (in the carpark and the boom gate thingy gets scared of the car), and the ones with the Typhoon etc during V8SC rounds.

Other than that I have never seen a tv ad for an FPV product during normal viewing.

Lets say you spend $5M on TV advertising for a year. When you're selling roughly 2000 cars a year, that means on each car you need to recoup $2500 in advertising costs per car.

Prime time slots can cost around $50-100k per 30s pop, even more. At $75k per slot, $5M only buys you 66 slots, not much more than 1 slot a week. Are consumers even going to notice one slot a week? Potentially you could compress your media schedule, but at the end of the day, if you're going to advertise, you need to be confident that it's going to be of genuine value. Yes you could get cheaper slots potentially, but at the end of the day, when you are a small company, it's very hard to justify lots of TV advertising.

Ask yourself this question. How many ads do you see for Proton, Ssangyong, Alfa Romeo (insert manufacturers of similar volume) on TV?

What volumes are you expecting from FPV? Heck, they've just had a record year. There are only so many people out there willing to fork out significant dollars for an Aussie performance car.

Arguably the bulk of FPV clientele are "car people" and their media consumption is pretty likely to include car magazines, automotive press, etc. They like cars, they have an interest in cars, they read reviews, etc. If your budget is only so big, arguably it's far more effective to use a combination of good PR (FPV's is getting good reviews these days) and print advertising.

There's more to marketing than mere TV advertising.

The Stylist · 21-01-2007, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b2tf

The ONLY TV ads I can ever remember seeing for FPV was the 2003 one when GT first came out (in the carpark and the boom gate thingy gets scared of the car), and the ones with the Typhoon etc during V8SC rounds.

Other than that I have never seen a tv ad for an FPV product during normal viewing.

Here on NZ we currently have an FPV TVC for the entire FPV range, nothing that great, just shots of all the models driving with the F6 Typhoon tree blasting scene at the end.

Surprised to here about the sackings though.

Bossxr8 · 21-01-2007, 08:57 PM

Looks like Prodrive want to take control.

mcooper · 21-01-2007, 09:10 PM

Bizarre that one of the last press releases the now defunct PR/Comms dept put out was one that bragged about the company's best ever sales year!
Now they all need to be putting out releases with their resumes attached. Gotta feel sorry for them all - walk into work at the end of a week and get the bum's rush!

henry 351 · 20-01-2007, 12:41 PM

The decision was made by Prodrive apparently.

They Marketing boys (and others further up the ladder too)turned up for work Friday morning and were told the news.

Desks emptied, mobiles returned, company cars handed back.

To top it off they were driven back to their respective homes the same morning in Statesmans.

Regardless of what we all think, they were all trying (harder than many of us realise) to improve the brand and the product. If their ideas and projects had been heeded I think you'd all be surprised what would be in the pipeline by now.

It's hard to market the FPV bandwagon when your are handcuffed at the wheel so to speak...

These people have put great effort into products we won't see for years to come (up to 2010 apparently).

I say thanks for their efforts and what they managed to achieve, rather than bag them for the perception of doing nothing. They had the ideas and the drive, but no one further up the Ford food chain had the the balls to commit to some great projects.