Ram hopes there's synergies in a new partnership with Walmart tapping into the "hunting/fishing lifestyle."
Chrysler’s Ram Truck brand will partner with Walmart this fall to promote its pickup trucks.
Details are still forthcoming, but the partnership will “recognize the alignment between truck buyers, the hunting/fishing lifestyle and Walmart. We are working on a promotion that brings all three together,” said Marissa Hunter, Ram’s head of advertising.
Walmart’s fall outdoor lifestyle partnership program, which includes the Mossy Oak camouflage brand, will go live across thousands of Walmart stores, Hunter said.
The Walmart effort will be part of Ram’s newly launched “Code of the West” national ad campaign that debuted online in June and will begin airing on TV in September.
The spin-off of Ram from Dodge two years ago has helped bring attention to the brand’s trucks that it didn’t have before, according to Ram CEO Fred Diaz.
“The spin-off has allowed us to focus all of our creative advertising and social media efforts specifically toward truck buyers while giving the Dodge brand their own space and place to focus on their brand, too,” Diaz sald.
Sales of Ram pickups have increased in 2011. The overall brand retail share has increased to 15 percent, according to R.L. Polk data. Ram heavy-duty retail market share has risen to 27.7 percent, and light-duty market share is 15 percent.
“We strongly believe [the increase in sales] has a lot to do with our laser focus on Ram and marketing to our classic truck buyers,” Diaz said. “Moreover, we now also have a laser focus on products that are right for the market and the demands of truck buyers, such as the Tradesman, Outdoorsman, 1500 Express, RamBox, High Output Cummins with best-in-class towing and unsurpassed torque. The campaign and product offerings have been very well received by our target audience and dealers, as proven by our market share and sales increases.”
Mike Levine is editor-in-chief of PickupTrucks.com.