Ford Motor Company’s sales are in the toilet, Toyota is whipping their butt, the company is in debt up to its gonads, and the stock has just been downgraded to junk, so if there ever was a time to “rip out the BS,” this would be it. That’s what Mark Fields, Ford president of the Americas says the company will do in “Bold Moves. The Future of Ford,”.
And they do: in a big company, ad-agency’s-idea-of-social-media-marketing sort of way.
It’s a nice advertorial, with some cool tools, but hey, for a reported $60 million budget, it ought to have a lot of bells and whistles. It’s sure to impress the Ford employees who’ve yet to be laid off and it’s increasingly irrelevant dealers, but you won’t find a link from the company’s main website or in its print or TV ads. Like a lot of big companies, they swim in new waters kind of like my puppy, Benny — refusing to get completely immersed.
The Ford films will be promoted online only through paid search advertising on Google; other websites, including CNN; and a link on fordvehicles.com, according to MarketingVox. Visitors to www.fordboldmoves.com can view the films, register for updates and offer opinions; (explicit comments will be filtered out); read the latest news about the company on a Yahoo! News RSS feed; read point-counterpoint editorials, biographical information on individuals in the films, and, after registering, participate in an area for public “e-conversations” around each topic.
Key quotes in the first episode: “We’re in trouble because we lost touch with the consumer” and “It’s very easy in our own little offices to create our own idea about what it means to be competitive”
Fields says, “Each episode will provide evidence that it’s not business as usual at the Ford Motor Company and that ‘Change or Die’ is not a sound bite. It’s the way we’re approaching our future .” Mary Lou Quesnell, director, Ford Brand DNA, tells viewers. “We will provide both sides of the conversation and let America watch Ford’s turnaround as it happens.”
After you register and make a comment, you see this message:
COMMENT RECEIVED.
Thank you for posting to Bold Moves. Your comment will be reviewed and processed before it’s posted to ensure we keep Bold Moves a forum for the fair exchange of ideas and opinions between all users. Posts that are abusive, contain personal attacks, threats, libel, or profanity will be not be posted. For more information on participating in the Bold Moves community, please visit our Terms and Conditions section.
And boy oh boy, did the lawyers ever go to town with the Terms & Conditions!
And then, because the lawyers just couldn’t stop once they really got going, they added this final disclaimer, “Any content and/or opinions expressed in this Web site, including without limitation, message boards, articles and responses to questions are solely the opinions and responsibility of the person or entity named as the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Ford Motor Company. You also understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for the content of any message that you post to this site.”
Helloooooo, if the content of the website isn’t reflecting the opinions of Ford, what are we all doing here?
Ford – Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying
The revolution will not be televised, it will be blogged, and people will comment on it. This is the prologue for the new online series that combines the Real World with Corporate Change Management. They got me, but my expectations were so low after th…
Ford “FordBoldMovies.com” 300×250
I’m with you on this being a big step, though I don’t share what appears to be your predominantly thumbs-down take on Ford’s site.
It’s tragic that so many workers at Ford and GM seem destined to lose their jobs. But I don’t think that should preclude Ford from attempting to save what it can by doing things like communicating what it’s up to in its broader turnaround strategy. And, as I wrote in my own post on this at http://www.insidebtobmarketing.com, I don’t think it’s fair to blast Ford for doing something that uses new media and a bit of veneer. They’re simply leveraging the power of the medium. (Though I’m not surprised people want to blast them for it, particularly in light of the Enrons and Global Crossings of the world who make us suspicious of ANY corporate communications.)
For the sake of full disclosure, I’m part of the ad agency world referenced early in your post, so perhaps my background has me see this differently than others.
Nevertheless, I appreciate the fact Ford is trying something that’s rare among companies like Ford. I also get that they’re not going to let you post whatever you want to their site. As you say, the long legal disclaimers and screens do indeed violate the purist’s free-for-all notion of how the blogosphere OUGHT to be.
And I love that Ford would actually let someone post the followingd rant, which I clipped off their site before posting this comment:
This company has made so many mistakes that it is becoming almost comical. Some answers would be great though. Im just gonna go of on a bit of a list here.
The Focus:It was a hit when it was first brought to the states. Ford had a winner and its almost like they didnt know what to do with it. So they did nothing. And here we are years later with the same Focus. While in Europe there is a brand new Focus that everyone loves. Explain that.
The 4.6L and 5.4L V8’s:Ford needs a big engine they need something that is going to go out on the marketplace and compete. Look at the Navigator they are trying to put that “new” SUV up against the likes of the Escalade. Not gonna happen. Next look at the F-150. The best selling truck on the market but still it is the most underpowered. GM has a huge list of V8 engine choices. Dodge has their Hemi. And Ford has the underpowered 5.4L Triton. What ever happened to the “Hurricane” V8 that was long rumored.? That’s what for needs.
And last but not least Ford’s idea of an “American Car”:Ford creating things like the Five Hundred and that new Lincoln MK (the town car replacement) and trying to send them off as American cars is prepousterous. I’m sorry but an all wheel drive car with a horizontally mounted Japanese built V8 (Licoln MK) is NOT an American car. That is a Japanese car and it is a ripoff. If Ford wants an American Car get real rear-wheel drive platform (One with IRS not a live axle) put a big V8 under the hood and style it like a muscular machine. And guess what…Ford already has that car in it’s stable it’s built in Australia and it’s called the Ford Falcon. For goodness sake I’ll take Ford’s idea of an Australian Car before I take their idea of an American Car
Regarding Ford’s decision to layoff more employees: Is this not typical of what some less than traditional businesses have been reporting for quite some time?
There is no such thing as a good paying stable job! Jobs are not stable anymore. No longer can anyone count on working for a company for 20+ years, then collect their pension and retire in comfort. It does not happen anymore.
Why, then, are so many people so hot to find yet another job without exploring other opportunities to diversify themselves to prevent this kind of thing from happening again? Since when was diversification a bad thing?
Why do so many people believe that it takes big bucks to diversify? PLEASE, open your minds, look at other legitimate opportunities. How can you determine if it is legitimate or not if you won’t even take a few hours to collect data and thoroughly investigate the people involved?
I guess I have a whole different mind set about how people can help themselves get out of these situations. It reminds me of the definition of insanity – Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results! Am I one of the few people who gets this concept?