Ford Australia CEO to deliver keynote at Mumbrella Automotive Marketing Summit
The Australian head of one Australia’s largest automotive brands, Ford, Graeme Whickman, is set to outline the company’s vision for the future of mobility in the keynote presentation at the upcoming Mumbrella Automotive Marketing Summit.
He is joined on the program by Sean Buckley, the executive chairman of franchise garage chain Ultra Tune, who will be grilled on the company’s recent controversial marketing campaigns in an on-stage interview.
The Automotive Marketing Summit takes place on August 23 at the Amora Jameson Hotel in Sydney.
Ford CEO Whickman is one of the most experienced auto marketers in the country having spent the past 20 years in various local and regional marketing positions with the US carmaker.
Whickman: Passionate about the need for transformative change
In this keynote presentation Whickman will explain how the company is looking to move beyond being an automaker towards becoming a mobility company, as it prepares for the impact of ride-sharing services and other transportation innovations to impact the industry.
Locally Ford has also established the largest automotive investment, innovation and employment presence in the country with the new Product Design Centre, delivering new Ford technologies for Australia – and other world markets.
In the fireside chat session, Ultra Tune’s Buckley will explain the company’s recent marketing pushes, after racking up the most complaints of any advertiser in Australia last year.
Buckley: One of Australia’s most complained-about advertisers
Those campaigns have courted the ire of women’s groups such as Collective Shout with a series of ads using women dressed in rubber, and more recently a scantily clad duo whose ditzy antics constantly see them having to be bailed out of trouble by Ultra Tune mechanics, and Hollywood action star Jean Claude Van Damme.
Other sessions already announced for the Summit include GM Holden marketing boss Mark Harland deep-diving on marketing electric vehicles, a session exploring the future of the driverless car, and how it will change consumer’s relationships with them, a look at why car ads are becoming a homogenous mass and Google’s head of automotive Cathy Collins in a session entitled Data is the New Oil.
For more details on the Summit and to get your tickets click here.
