In a fast-changing automotive world, even the biggest brands have no guarantee they can survive indefinitely. That’s led Ford to launch its first global marketing campaign in a decade. But what’s the “Ready Set Ford” big buck project trying to achieve? Headlight.News has the story.
Ford’s new campaign will focus as much on owner lifestyles as on its products.
This week’s Thursday Night Football game will do more than just get the new NFL season underway. It will mark the official launch of Ford Motor Co.’s first global marketing campaign in more than a decade.
Dubbed “Ready Set Ford,” you can expect to see it “everywhere,” according to the automaker’s Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Materazzo, and while it will formally launch in the U.S., it will expand to every one of the more than 100 global markets Ford operates in during the first quarter of 2026.
What could eventually become a multi-billion-dollar campaign will “focus on the emotional lifestyles” of the customers using everything from traditional print and broadcast, as well as newer electronic media. It will see Ford pair up with celebrities like Jimmy Fallon — the Tonight Show host coming to Detroit for one of his tapings – as well as digital influencers. The automaker also will team up with charitable groups like celebrity chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen.
Ready Set Ford
Ford CMO Lisa Materazzo says we’ll see the Ready Set Ford campaign “everywhere.”
Ford has had a history of going big with its marketing campaigns and older motorists are likely to remember past taglines such as, “Have You Driven a Ford Lately,” and “Quality is Job One.” But it’s been more than a decade since it last coordinated its global marketing efforts. And that was an approach CEO Jim Farley wanted to return to when he hired his new CMO in September 2023, she said during a background briefing at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan last week.
For good reason, Materazzo added, noting that the auto industry is going through massive changes, with new technology, new products and new competitors and, “there’s a belief not all brands are going to survive this transformation.” One only has to look at the key markets of China and Europe to see how Ford is being challenged.
The new campaign “isn’t about changing who we are,” Materazzo explained. It’s about sharpening our focus,” and talking more directly to likely buyers in language they can understand. In fact, the tagline, “Ready Set Ford,” will be presented in English in all but four markets. But it will be backed up by localized ads and marketing efforts.
The three target audiences include adventurers, “doers and creators” and “badass” drivers.
Three target audiences
Ford has loosely divided up its audience – and its product line-up into “three distinct lifestyles,” the CMO explained:
- The “doers and creators” who own vehicles like the F-Series and Maverick pickups;
- “Boundary-pushers craving speed and performance” with products like the Mustang; and
- “Explorers drawn to discovery,” with models like the Bronco, Ranger and Expedition.
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A big budget
The campaign will complete its global rollout during the first quarter of 2026.
Ford traditionally doesn’t discuss its ad and marketing “spend,” and that’s the case with Ready Set Ford. But industry trackers, including Ad Age, Marketing ant others estimate the automaker is currently on track to spend about $2.5 billion on worldwide advertising this year. The budget is likely to top $4 billion when other marketing is rolled in.
Exactly how much will go to the new campaign is also a closely guarded secret, though Materazzo acknowledged, “You will see our content everywhere” by the time the campaign completes its global rollout. And it won’t be a “launch and leave,” or short-term effort, expected to run for a number of years, like past campaigns, if it clicks.
That said, Ready Set Ford won’t gobble up Ford’s entire marketing budget. It will be backed up by more conventional advertising designed to speak to local markets. The reality is that global campaigns can only go so far. There are distinct differences in what motorists want and need in different regions of the world. Big trucks, like the Ford F-150, can seem alien to Europeans, and countries such as China and Singapore aren’t exactly big on off-roading. The minicars of Europe and Asia are equally foreign to Americans.
A new name for the Ford Performance brand.
A new name for Ford Performance
Materazzo isn’t shy about shaking things up since she arrived at Ford. The launch of Ready Set Ford follows by days another change many of the automaker’s fans will notice. The Ford Performance arm has now been renamed Ford Racing,
And while it’s too early to say what might be in the works, the new CMO hinted the “Blue Oval” brand’s high-line sibling, the Lincoln marque, could be in for its own global marketing campaign in the future. “Lincoln is going through a similar exercise,” she confided, while cautioning that the timing hais yet to be determined.
Rough road ahead
Ford’s loyalty rates have traditionally been highest among its truck customers.
The new marketing campaign doesn’t directly address one of the biggest challenges currently facing Ford: its ongoing quality problems. Making matters worse, the automaker racked up more recalls during just the first half of 2025 than any other manufacturer previously tallied during an entire year.
“We’ve had our challenges with recalls,” Materazzo acknowledged during her background media briefing, but she insisted Ford is “already seeing some improvements in quality.”
On the plus side, the company does have a solid customer base. A new study released this past month by S&P Global Mobility found that Ford’s Blue Oval has the highest owner loyalty among any automotive brand operating in the U.S. But that’s still down from a decade ago, with just under 59% of current owners trading in for another Ford product. Improving loyalty is clearly a top priority for Ready Set Ford.
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