Ford Hires Nate Bargatze as New Service Pitchman
Ford has spent years renting celebrities to sell its wares, and its latest hire is a comedian whose main qualification is that he can't work on his own car. Nate Bargatze is the face of a new ad campaign built to lure customers back to the dealership service bay, and the pitch is aimed squarely at people who have no idea what happens under the hood.
The effort is called "Real Parts. Real Pros. Real Easy.," and it rests on three selling points: genuine parts, technicians trained specifically on your vehicle, and a convenient experience. Two spots have launched so far, focused on Ford technicians and mobile service, with more to come. Ford plans to keep the campaign running throughout 2027.
The motivation is money. Independent shops have been gaining favor with vehicle owners lately, according to Ford, and the automaker wants to claw back a slice of the profitable service business that keeps walking out the door. Ford isn't hiding the logic. Bargatze got the job because he openly admits he doesn't understand cars, according to the automaker.
"We went looking for someone who could make vehicle service feel simple. We found a comedian who admits he doesn't understand it," said Brett Burin, executive director, U.S. Ford Customer Service Division Marketing Sales and CX.
"Nate Bargatze has talked in his stand-up about not being a car guy, and that's exactly why we wanted him. Nate is our customer. He owns a Ford Bronco SUV. He doesn't want to learn what a serpentine belt does, and he shouldn't have to. When he says Ford Service is easy, people believe him, because he's the last guy who'd pretend to be an expert."
So the strategy is to reassure customers who don't understand their vehicles that the dealer will handle it for them. Whether the guy who admits he doesn't know a serpentine belt from a fan belt is the ideal figure to build trust in a service department is a question Ford has already answered for itself.
[Images: Ford]
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Makes about as much sense as electing a leader that scored in bottom 5% of the class and expecting a great result..
People are skipping the Ford Service department because Ford themselves have admitted, on multiple occasions, that the wait times are obscene. Due to their tech shortage. And their tech shortage is because Ford builds a garbage product where the majority of the work coming into the dealership is warranty. And Ford screws their techs on warranty work so they can't make much of a living.
But yeah, hiring some moron comedian who doesn't know how to service his own car is totally gonna fix their systemic problems.
And to whoever wrote this nonsense: if the fan is belt driven, and the car has a serpentine belt, the serpentine belt IS the fan belt.
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Nate Bargatze net worth = ~$40 million.
Should have used The Trailer Park Boys. Too bad that they're diehard GM fans.
"Nate is our customer. He owns a Ford Bronco SUV. He doesn't want to learn what a serpentine belt does, and he shouldn't have to. When he says Ford Service is easy, people believe him, because he's the last guy who'd pretend to be an expert."
We want upper class ignorant customers who don't want to understand what's happening and blindly trust the stealership.