Partnering up with ParkWhiz and Parkopedia, Ford created a free application for smart phones called “FordPass” to help users locate and pay for parking. Ford’s target audience includes not only current owners of Ford vehicles but non-Ford owners as well. FordPass aims to put numerous helpful features in one single application such as finding parking, paying for parking, giving Ford owners the ability to schedule maintenance, remote starting/lock/unlock, locating their vehicle, various status levels of fluids/tires/battery in the vehicle, and more. This is very useful to owners of a Ford vehicle, and non-owners, because now people have many different uses for a single application connected with a new car right at their fingertips on their smartphones. Ford is aiming to give customers a great experience within the application so current Ford owners and potential buyers will keep Ford in mind when making a new vehicle purchase. This application eliminates a need for OnStar, a major competitor. This makes sense for Ford because nearly every person has a smartphone now, and keeping potential customers involved with the brand between vehicle purchases, which could be years apart, is important. This is entirely owned media, as it is a brand-controlled touchpoint.
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