Toby Keith Enjoys Riding With Ford
There are few relationships stronger than the one between Ford and country singer-songwriter Toby Keith. This pairing looks likely to go down as one of the strongest in the pickup truck marketing world, along with the likes of Chevrolet and rocker Bob Seger ("Like a Rock"), and actor Sam Elliott as the voice of Ram.
One of the first things Keith wants us to understand is that he wasn't looking for deep pockets to sponsor his concerts. According to Keith, as he gained popularity as a country singer, Ford approached him because employees heard he'd been talking about his own Ford trucks on stage. Negotiations ensued, and the rest is history. Keith first partnered with Ford in 2002; he has since made several appearances with now-CEO (then the new president of the Americas) Mark Fields to introduce both the new F-150 and Super Duty pickups.
Keith said his family has deep Ford roots. He still remembers when his dad, who was an oil company fleet buyer at the time, always purchased Ford trucks because they seemed to hold up to the abuse. Unfortunately, Keith continued, after his dad got a promotion the guy who took over vehicle purchasing didn't think the same way and moved to another brand that ended up causing the company all sorts of problems with extra downtime and costly repairs. His dad had a good laugh and got to say, "I told you so."
We recently had the chance to see the country star at work, filming a short video for an upcoming concert tour. The nondescript ranch-house setting had plenty of young actors, cameras, playback speakers, computer monitors and Ford trucks spread out all over the place. We saw a modified Ford Raptor, a new 2015 F-150 Platinum and even the Mighty Tonka F-750, ready for Keith to use.
In between video takes we with talked with Keith about his interest and background with Ford trucks. Here are some sound bites from our conversations:
* "My first truck was a '73 F-100 with the I-6 and a three-on-the-tree, but I've owned a lot of Ford trucks since then. The truck I get the most comments and questions about is the [Mighty] Tonka F-350 we used in our 'Who's Your Daddy' video. … They want to know if I still have that truck but it was never mine, that was Ford's — they just loaned it to us for the shoot."
* "We're using a bunch of Ford trucks for this video shoot that we'll play at the beginning of our concerts this year, but the most fun today will be when I get to jump into the Tonka dump truck and drive around in the dirt. We've got a few new F-150s here too, but the F-750 is the bad boy."
* "I've known Mark Fields for a long time and I can only imagine what it's like to run company as big as Ford, but he seems like he likes the tough job. I'm not sure I could do that; I'd be afraid of screwing something up."
* "I just got my new Platinum F-150 and I have to say it's amazing … my favorite feature of the new truck has to be the back massager. I've had some great trucks and cars in my day — I've had a Mach 1 Mustang, Ford GT and a '34 Ford — but I've never had anything that gives me a massage."
Keith's latest CD, "35 MPH Town," is likely to come out later this summer or fall, but the first single, also called "35 MPH Town," is available now on iTunes and other music download platforms.
Cars.com photos by Mark Williams
Comments
Suddenly Ford offers big discounts on new F series pickups. Seems the new aluminum F series has not took off in sales like Ford and the fan boys on this sight thought it would.
http://247wallst.com/autos/2015/04/25/suddenly-ford-offers-big-discounts-on-new-f-series-pickups/
I do not see nothing wrong with a good discount.
With the latest round of Ford Marketing releases on the net positives that the Ford pickup is giving the US, does make one wonder what is the negative that Ford is not promoting.
I did read in another article a person who considers PUTC a Ford Front. This isn't so. It's Ford itself with it's careful management of information releases.
But, also remember Mike Levine is now a Ford mouthpiece.
Something at Ford isn't going as Ford wants and it's trying to lift it's image.
I wonder what that is? Maybe PUTC can do some journalism and find out.
Its my personal opinion the 2015 F-150 has been transformed into a girly man truck and they are using a guy like Toby Keith to get rid of that image.
If Ford would use a guy like me with good looks and a skinny body showing how my job requires me to do extreme off-roading dressed in boots and muddy clothes would appeal better with toughness, BUT I can understand the male buyer of the truck would hate me cause of my good looks.
I mean if their wife or g/f would watch an advertisement with a dreamboat looking man like me they would be in love with me instead of their man and that man would hate me for it.
I understand.
What a jerk of a comment. This idiot must work for PUTC. And if chebby or ram comes out with a massager it will be the best thing since sliced bread.
@Truck crazy
That idiot doesn't work for PUTC but for Ford and his " favorite feature of the new Ford truck has to be the back massager. "
The reality is that even though the F-150 is easily the most advanced, best looking, toughest truck on the planet, Chevy and Dodge are good trucks too. The next fact that GM has been discounting the new Chevy and GMC with $8,000 in rebates since it's launch and Ram has been doing the same on everything except the Eco Diesel ( what a marketing masterpiece Ram has done with this over priced underperforming truck that cost more to operate! ) Ford has to offer some sort of incentives. Maybe 1/2 what the other guys are offering, but still something in order to reach sales goals and not watch too many people walk away for the much cheaper and inferior Chevy. It's just business.....
Ford offering discounts on their new soda can pickup. Where GM is not offering any discounts on their new mid size trucks and they cannot keep up with demand. The new Ford soda can is not as big a hit as they had hoped for. Sorry Ford, you lose again and using a washed up country singer to boost your sales is a failure also.
more whinning for a bunch of grown men. Do any of you all have anything positive to say about a single article posted on this page?
Looks like we have a fake Mr. Obvious stealing my Screen name.
Ford has to put cash on the hood to make up for the fake videogame noises coming from the EcoBusts, real men with real V8's, those come from RAM and GM.
Since Ford doesn't know how to make a good V8, the 6.2 was a major failure, GM 6.2 gets better FE and much more torque and power than the Twin TurdBlows, I challenge Mike Levine and all the Ford Engineers that road the short bus to school to prove us wrong and bring back the great big bad 6.2, you lost 700 and pounds and STILL the corvette based Steel GM Twin Boot stomp your turdBlows.
The reality is that even though the F-150 is easily the most advanced, best looking, toughest truck on the planet, Chevy and Dodge are good trucks too. The next fact that GM has been discounting the new Chevy and GMC with $8,000 in rebates since it's launch and Ram has been doing the same on everything except the Eco Diesel ( what a marketing masterpiece Ram has done with this over priced underperforming truck that cost more to operate! ) Ford has to offer some sort of incentives. Maybe 1/2 what the other guys are offering, but still something in order to reach sales goals and not watch too many people walk away for the much cheaper and inferior Chevy. It's just business.....
Posted by: Mr.Obvious | Apr 26, 2015 2:05:09 PM
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