Ford Motor Co. is hoping that a little star power and humor will bring Ford vehicle owners back to their local dealership for service work rather than using third-party service shops.
The automaker announced on Sept. 28 that it will start running a national ad campaign that stars comedian Nate Bargatze. The two 30-second spots will start airing on streaming television on Oct. 1 and the campaign will run through Dec. 31, 2027.
The campaign will use Bargatze to tout Ford dealership service work, hammering the message that Ford dealers make it easy to get your car serviced with either a mobile service technician coming to your home to service the vehicle or pickup and delivery of your vehicle. Also, Ford dealerships have the experts who are specifically
trained on Ford cars and use genuine Ford parts.
The ads coincide with Ford executives working with dealers to ensure the dealers offer competitive pricing with third-party service centers. Ford will offer service incentives to customers too, such as buy one tire, get one tire free, said Brett Burin, executive director for Ford's U.S. Customer Service Division Marketing Sales and customer experience.
"To earn customers trust, we not only have to give them a reason to come back in, but once they come back in, we have to make sure that they're treated amazingly," Burin said. "They're taken care of, and they're getting a great experience and that is one of the things that we're really focused on."
That's an important goal because the average age of vehicles in the United States reached 12.8 years in 2025, marking the second consecutive year of an increase in vehicle age by two months, according to S&P Global Mobility. The fact that people are holding onto their cars longer means they will need more service work. The trend also reflects broader changes in consumer buying patterns amid a challenging economy, as well as the durability of modern vehicles.
Also, data from a Cox Automotive study showed that nearly three-fourths of customers who get their service work done at a dealership will buy their next car from that dealership.
A comic with controversy
Beyond the commercials, Bargatze will also be in Detroit next week. On Sept. 30, Ford CEO Jim Farley is hosting his second annual Ford Pro Accelerate: The Essential Economy summit at the Michigan Central Station. There, hundreds of leaders convene to talk about ways to accelerate productivity across industries like manufacturing, utilities, transportation, construction, and energy. Bargatze will co-host the event with Farley.
Then, on Oct. 1, Ford will kick off the Bargatze campaign with one spot called "Spread the Word," in which Bargatze is in front of his house as a Ford mobile unit with a technician is working on his vehicle. Bargatze speaks into the camera explaining how he had no idea Ford dealers made it so convenient to get service on his Ford truck at his home at no extra charge, so he's spreading the word to others. The joke comes at the end when the technician corrects Bargatze and said it was actually Bargatze's wife who scheduled the service appointment.
The second spot to run is called, "Experts." It shows Bargatze in a Ford dealership service bay struggling to open the hood of his truck until a service technician comes and does it in one easy motion. The comic then talks about how the Ford team are experts at working on his vehicle.
Ford chose Bargatze because the comedian owns a Ford truck and is a fan, so he has an authenticity that the automaker felt would resonate with viewers, said Phil O’Connor, executive director of Ford's marketing communications. Also, Bargatze's humor is "clean, relatable and grounded" making him "the right partner to help us talk about something practical and important for customers: Knowing who to trust when it comes to taking care of their vehicle," O'Connor said.
That may be so, but Bargatze did face some controversy in June when he attended a White House event that combined a UFC fight with President Donald Trump's 80th birthday celebration and America's 250th birthday. Many fans expressed disappointment at Bargatze's attendence there, believing the appearance clashed with his "everyman" approach and apolitical comedic persona.
When asked by a small group of media if Ford had discussed the controversy with Bargatze or had any concerns about him being tied to Trump, therefore being seen as political, O'Connor said, no.
"We haven't talked to him about that and don't have any concerns about that," O'Connor said. "I think his brand is very strong, very consistent, very well understood, and that's what attracted us to a partnership."
A pricey ad campaign, results are mandatory
The spots will air in the United States only. They will start running on streaming television and then expand to social media, digital and other platforms later, O'Connor said.
Then, over the next year Ford will make more spots with Bargatze that emphasize the same ideas of the use of genuine Ford parts, trained Ford service technicians and convenient service experiences.
This campaign comes after Ford launched the "Real Parts. Real Pros. Real Easy." campaign on June 1. That campaign, which runs through year-end, airs three 30-second spots that show how Ford is modernizing the vehicle ownership experience for the long haul. It emphasizes "real parts" to convey Ford's dedication to making sure customers get the reliable parts that are tailored to post-warranty vehicles and mixed commercial fleets. Also, Ford has "real pros" — advanced technicians — with "proprietary AI tools" for a combination of connected vehicle data and expert knowledge for the best diagnostics and finally, the "real easy," is about convenience. Roughly one in seven Ford service visits now happen at the customer’s home or office via the largest mobile service fleet in the country.
The campaign to promote service is the first one Ford has done in years. O'Connor said Ford has been measuring the results of that campaign launched in June and "we're seeing real, really significant improvements, particularly with Ford owners" coming back to dealership service lanes.
"So that's working. But that's not a high enough (return on investment) for what we're spending," O'Connor said.
O'Connor declined to reveal how much these ads and the Bargatze campaign will cost Ford, which is typical given no automaker reveals their marketing budgets. But he characterized it as "a sizable investment" that will need to result in a big return to justify it.
"We need to drive more traffic to our dealers, we need to bring owners back who have been servicing at third party service centers," O'Connor said. "We need to bring them back to the network, and that's the intent."
The timing is irrelevant to new vehicle sales being lower this year than they were a year-ago, Burin said. He added, however, that promoting service business is good for sparking car sales.
"Whether it's during rich product times or maybe lean product times, service focus has always been a key area of growth and when we look at our customer base, we see how many of those Ford customers that are out there that are not coming back," said Burin. "Our goal to our dealerships is to always keep this service machine running, because it's also what … generates that next sale. We know customers that service at a Ford dealership are more likely to buy at that dealership."
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Nate Bargatze is a Ford truck owner and fan. He's also a new spokesman
