The Guidelines are “meant to provide a simple and clear guide to online communications for Ford Motor Company personnel.” According to the sheet Monty pinned today, Ford’s believes that responsible and ethical use of social media hinges upon core principles of honesty, clarity, respect and humility, good judgment in posting information, and awareness that posted information is permanent. The document has been public since August 2010, but will likely increase its visibility on the heels of Monty’s tweet. Fine text at the bottom points Ford employees to more detailed internal documents about the guidelines.
Monty is a leader in global corporate social media strategies, who stresses principles of honesty, transparency, and an integrated approach to social media marketing. He is available on twitter @ScottMonty, and you can watch a WebProNews interview with him here.
Ford Motor Company announced today that it will be providing a sneak preview of its upcoming “Mustang Inner TV” ad via Google+ Hangout, YouTube and Facebook, in the latest of its social-savvy marketing tactics.
The ad will be shown nationally during the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
The ad will actually hit the Google+ Hangout first at 11 a.m. EST via the company’s Google+ Page, then it will appear on YouTube and Facebook later.
“We know that Mustang owners are incredibly passionate about their car,” said Matt VanDyke, director of U.S. Marketing Communications. “Rather than just show features and benefits, our new ad demonstrates how people see the product as an extension of who they are. We believe that everyone has an inner Mustang just waiting to be unleashed.”
“This ad was created to work in tandem with the success of our Mustang Customizer and downloadable app, which allows anyone to create their very own Mustang, selecting colors, accessories and decals to complement the amazing design,” said Lee Jelenic, Ford Car Marketing Communications manager. “Mustang owners are unique, independent, and like their cars to reflect their personalities. The Customizer site and this spot pay homage to that.”
“These results confirm the potential we saw in developing a social platform that lets Mustang owners have fun with the brand, interact and share,” said Scott Kelly, Ford Digital Marketing manager.
Speaking of extreme Daytona 500 ads, check out the Dale Jr. Mountain Dew ad.
Now that the Giants have won the Super Bowl, we should be able to forge about Super Bowl rivalries, right? Not if Ford has anything to say about it.
You may have seen GM’s ad during the Super Bowl. It pokes fun at Ford owners’ inability to survive the apocalypse because one’s truck model definitely changes survival odds.
The ad pokes fun at Ford, but is it enough to get angry over? Ford thinks it is.
Ford told Reuters that they have the safer pickup truck so even without the poking fun, GM is just wrong. Well, GM is not going to pull the ad because it’s a good ad. Why pull an ad even if it makes your competitor look bad? That’s the point of an advertisement.
Ford says that they are going to fight the allegations that they make an inferior truck not in court, but in the ad space. They will protect their claim of having the best-selling truck for the past 35 years.
It’s nice to see competition in the ad space. Even if both companies come out looking all the more foolish for their jabs at each other, the consumer gets the hilarious attack ads they make.
In the midst of the technology gauntlet that is CES, some people still took time out to talk about education and innovation as it relates to the tech industry.
A panel of CEOs from Xerox, Ford and Verizon spoke on education and innovation during CES as reported by Vegas Inc. The executives pointed out that better education and economic diversification were the key to the United States catching up to leading businesses around the world.
“We must fundamentally improve our educational system,” Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox, said during the CES’ Innovation Power Panel session. “We need to make science and math a desirable place to be. We need great teachers. We need excited learners. We can’t complain if we don’t have them, if we don’t invest in them.”
She went on to say that a part of the solution was to make students realize that four or six more years of education after high school could change their financial outlook and success.
“Unfortunately, it’s still not cool to be that way,” Burns said. “And it’s amazing to me how few people are thinking that way.”
CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro, moderator of the panel, said that the aftermath of the death of Steve Jobs put an emphasis on his role as an innovator. It was good for the industry as it showed the importance of innovators and the need for a solid education.
Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford, said that the United States needed to get back to letting businesses grow.
“Manufacturing can be a big part of fueling U.S. growth,” Mulally said. “It’s almost like we’ve decided not to be competitive.”
John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, said that his company was fostering innovation through the opening of centers in Boston and San Francisco that invite entrepreneurs to develop phone apps and services.
Stratton blamed the government for not establishing new tax policies and putting regulatory burdens on companies as the main reasons behind their stifled innovation.
The executives praised the section on the CES show floor called Eureka! Park that features more than 100 new technologies. Shapiro said that the area featured product categories like broadband services, safe driving and sustainable technologies. It’s his hope that venture capitalists will invest in these new technologies to bring them to market.
Ford Motor Company is opening a research lab in Silicon Valley that will be about emerging technologies just as much as it is about cars.
The company announced Friday morning that it will open its first dedicated research lab on the west coast early this year. The facility will be used as a way to collaborate with all the tech firms that are in the area.
“Ford has an incredible heritage of driving innovation in the transportation and manufacturing sectors during the past 107 years,” Paul Mascarenas, Ford chief technical officer and vice president of Research and Innovation, said. “Now it’s time to prepare for the next 100 years, ushering in a new era of collaboration and finding new partners to help us transform what it means to be an automaker.”
Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally will speak more on the new research lab during Ford’s CES Innovation Power Panel keynote on January 11.
The company said that Ford Research and Innovation, the company’s engineering arm, will open the new research lab in the first quarter. Its focus will be keeping pace with consumer trends and preparing for the future by investing in technologies like cloud computing.
The lab will connect with Ford’s Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California and Ford employees working with Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.
“Silicon Valley represents a deep and dynamic technology neighborhood and is far from Dearborn,” K. Venkatesh Prasad, senior technical leader for open innovation with Ford Research and Innovation, said. “With so many opportunities and so much potential, our new lab will allow us to scout new technologies and partners in their own environment and continue our expansion beyond the traditional automaker mindset to drive innovation for a better mobility experience.”
The number of employees at the new lab will be comparable to a tech start-up. The emphasis will be placed on quality over quantity.
The new lab will not replace work already being done at Ford’s other research labs in Dearborn, Michigan, its European lab in Aachen, Germany or the recently opened technology office in Nanjing, China.
Some of the things that Ford’s R&D groups are working on right now include OpenXC, a research platform that allows developers access to Ford vehicles to connect with cloud-based apps and services, and allowing access to the cars’ sensors to develop apps that connect with their vehicles.
“Ford integrates technologies, software and electronics at the same pace as the most innovative companies in the world – our platform just happens to be the car,” Mascarenas said. “The new Silicon Valley lab will propel us further as we look at the many facets of life where mobility interacts with society and see how we can make those experiences better for millions of customers around the world.”
This morning, Ford announced some upgrades and new features for its MyFord Touch system, beginning with model year 2013. The upgrade will also be available to existing MyFord Touch owners, via a USB flash drive for free.
“Operating just like a technology company would, Ford is leveraging software to continuously update and upgrade the driver experience, a Ford spokesperson tells WebProNews. “The new upgrades to MyFord Touch will contain simpler graphics, larger font sizes, faster touch screen response, easier-to-use controls and even compatibility with tablets including the iPad.”
Some have voiced concern about the dangers of touch screens in cars. For example, there’s a comment on YouTube about the video below that says, “Touch screens don’t belong in cars, period. They’re dangerous and unreliable. Stick to knobs and buttons that can be operated without looking at them.”
“Research shows that activity that draws drivers’ eyes away from the road for an extended period of time substantially increases risk of accidents,” Ford Motor Company Technology Communications Manager Alan Hall tells WebProNews. “Therefore, we developed new technologies with intuitive, simple controls and voice commands as part of MyFord Touch to deliver a safer, smarter way to access vehicle functions and features. Drivers experience many different types of distractions on a daily basis, and our MyFord technology helps reduce some of those distractions.”
The upgrades will be showcased for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month, where the company will launch the new Escape. At BlogWorld a few days ago, Ford CMO Jim Farley revealed Escape Routes, an interesting promotion for the vehicle. Here’s an interview we did at the show with Ford’s Social Media Director Scott Monty:
Here’s the actual list of the MyFord Touch feature upgrades, as provided by Ford:
· Improved voice recognition experience powered by Nuance
– Quicker voice recognition upon startup and faster command prompt when the voice button is pushed
– Voice commands used in conjunction with navigation are simplified through elimination of the need to provide street direction, e.g., “Main Street” instead of “North Main Street”
– Music requests are simpler by removing the need to include the additional song, album or artist information often found at the end of a name in (parenthesis) or [brackets]
– Customers can find their favorite sports team in action via new Sirius Game Finder simply by saying a command such as “Tune to Detroit Lions game”
· Tablet device compatibility
– Music and other media content from most popular tablet computers like the Apple iPad can now be accessed through a simple USB connection
· Audible.com audiobook support
– Listen to Audible.com content using voice commands or the easy-to-use touch-screen controls
· Connected navigation powered by TeleNav features new map data by NAVTEQ
– Updated map views are richer and feature more 3D landmarks
– Views of freeway junctions and signs are enhanced through photorealistic screen images
– Smart routing options are provided based on a database of historical traffic patterns
· Phone compatibility
– Automatic Bluetooth connection upon vehicle entry has been improved
– Noise and echo cancellation during phone calls has been improved to enhance call quality
· Gracenote album cover art database
– Inclusion of the latest music metadata available enhancing the music playback experience
– Improved voice recognition for music search allowing drivers to pinpoint artists with hard-to-pronounce names or nicknames
To celebrate the launch of the 2012 Ford Escape, the company, who has a sizable presence at BlogWorld, Ford announced the Escape Routes that will show an entirely new method of vehicular promotion.
While discussing the benefits of the new Escape model — you can apparently open the trunk with your foot — some of the details of the promotional strategy were revealed. In order to promote the vehicle, Ford is having it take part on some global adventures. It appears as if Ford is tapping into the reality television/The Amazing Race model by having teams compete while showing off the new Escape. However, instead of racing to see who comes in first, the winners will be decided by voters.
The teams will be competing in what speaker Jim Farley referred to as a “series of spontaneous adventures.”
Apparently, the social media aspect of the web is going to come into play a great deal as well, because Farley mentions using the “social media graph” in order to win. To facilitate the social aspect of Escape Routes, the teams will make short videos to promote the competition and each team will feature blogger/content creator with them.
As for the QR codes, if BlogWorld attendees activate one on their mobile device, they can track the progress of the vehicle up until its launch in two weeks.
During the presentation, Farley stressed that people are desperate for authentic content, which is what motivated the Escape Routes promotion. Farley also feels that vehicles are social objects, and if you doubt that, ask yourself why people spend so much on stereos and/or chrome rims.
It’s all about getting noticed, as are new approaches to marketing, which is something Ford is clearly committed to.
Last week, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh announced that he was setting out to break the Guinness World Record for most attendees at a tweetup on Saturday. Suh has revealed the number of attendees, and it does indeed break the record.
The tweetup took place prior to the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ spring game on Saturday. Suh had invited Nebraska (his Alma mater) fans to join him, saying, “Let’s CRUSH this world record.”
Interestingly, Suh’s NFL team, the Lions, are owned by Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford’s grandson William Clay Ford.
WebProNews spoke with Scott Monty a couple of times about Ford’s social media success. Hear what he had to say in the two interviews here.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Guiness World Records official Sarah Wilcox says Suh’s claimed record is not official yet, adding that evidence must be submitted for review, and that it oculd take a couple days to verify after the paperwork is submitted.
Meanwhile, Suh seems to have his mind on better things. His last Twitter interaction was a retweet of this:
Detroit Lions Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh announced via Twitter and TwitVid that he is setting out to lead the world’s largest tweetup this weekend, to break the current Guinness World Record.
Suh calls upon fans to join him Saturday at 10:30 AM, before the Nebraska (his Alma mater) Spring game.
“Let’s crush that Guinness World record,” he tells his followers.
Who holds the current record? None other than well-known (at least in social media marketing crowds) Ford social media guy Scott Monty. According to the Guinness World Records site, “The most attendees at a ‘Tweetup’ is 1,149 and was achieved by Ford Motor Company (USA) in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 1 December 2009.”
WebProNews has interviewed Monty a couple times about Ford’s social media success:
It’s even more interesting considering that the Lions are owned by William Clay Ford, grandson of Henry Ford and son of Edsel Ford. I would almost wonder if Monty wasn’t somehow involved with this, if it wasn’t more about Nebraska than the Lions.
Ford said today it has launched an “Electrified Vehicle Facebook” page in an effort to educate and share information with people about its electric offerings.
The Electrified Vehicle Facebook page offers users links to videos and photos of Ford’s electric vehicles. Users can participate in discussions, take polls, and ask the company questions about its electric offerings.
"People who are passionate about electrified vehicles or just interested in learning more about the technology are using the Internet as the source to participate in discussions or gather information," said David Finnegan, Ford electric vehicles marketing manager.
"Launching a Ford-specific Electrified Vehicle Facebook page allows us to create a forum for discussion and a place where we can interact with fans."
Ford says it plans to launch five electric vehicles in North America by 2012 and Europe by 2013.
Ford has launched a social media campaign on Facebook to promote its new Explorer.
The campaign called “Go. Do. Adventures,” asks people what they would do and where they would go if they had a new Ford Explorer for a week.
People can submit essays, photos and videos via the Ford Explorer website and Facebook. The responses will highlight product features and unique American locations and attractions. Ford will select 10 winners to go on their own road trip, expenses paid, and it will be documented on the Explorer Facebook page.
"This provides a platform for a larger audience to experience Explorer. We started the conversation by revealing Explorer on Facebook and are continuing to advance that dialogue online," said Eric Peterson, Explorer communications manager.
"We have actively answered our fans’ questions, but now we have an opportunity to create advocates and show how Explorer can enable you to do the things you always dreamed of."
Gogo Inflight Internet said today it would offer free access to Facebook for the month of February for passengers on seven major airlines.
In partnership with Ford, Gogo is offering free Facebook access on American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, AirTran Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America.
"Facebook continues to be the number one website visited by travelers using Gogo at 30,000 feet," said Aircell Chief Revenue Officer, Jim Berrien.
"Our commitment is to offer great inflight experiences to our users, and unique marketing opportunities to advertisers.”
When the plane has reached 10,000 feet and people are allowed to turn on electronic devices, they can visit the Gogo wireless network, open their browser and click on the Ford/Facebook banner.
The service is available to users on all Wi-Fi enabled devices, including laptops, smartphones and PDAs.
AOL’s MapQuest announced a partnership with Ford Motor Company today, in which MapQuest users will be able to search for destinations from the MapQuest site, and send them directly to their Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury vehicles (so long as they are equipped with the SYNC Traffic, Directions and Information service).
"Imagine I’m planning a trip to New York City and want to visit the Empire State Building," says MapQuest’s Ted Babitz. "Instead of printing the directions, I just click "Send to SYNC" to have the information sent to my SYNC system. Once in my vehicle, I just press the voice button, say ‘Services’, and the vehicle navigation system will calculate a route and then begin guidance to the MapQuest point of interest."
"Now you can plan and research where you want to go online and send it directly to your car," adds Babitz. "Think of how many drivers will navigate with their eyes on the road, instead of looking down at a printed map."
MapQuest has been working hard to attract new interest in its service. It recently rolled out a whole new design (which it has been improving upon since), and had expanded its live traffic coverage.
This partnership with Ford should go a long way in keeping users interested too.
Google announced that it has extended its Google Maps Send-to-Car service to Ford and GM vehicles. This applies to Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles in the US that are enabled with Ford SYNC, as well as OnStar equipped GM vehicles, which include models from Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn.
Users of the Send-to-Car service can send business listings or addresses found on Google Maps directly to their cars. The expansion of the service is great news for local businesses, and perhaps makes it all the more important to hone their Google Maps presence.
"Drivers can then use their car maker’s turn-by-turn navigation system to be guided to their selected destination. With today’s additions, drivers can send destinations from Google Maps directly to their connected vehicles in 19 countries and more than 20 different brands," says Markus Mühlbauer, Engineering and Product Manager. "In the US alone, Send-To-Car is now available on more than 15 car brands and we hope to see even more partners join us soon."
"We think this is a great convenience for drivers – Prepare your route at your desk, send the destination to your car, and safely enjoy your ride – hands on the wheel, eyes on the road," he adds. "We also like to think that in the age of green driving, not having to print paper directions anymore is a great start of a green trip!"
Now imagine if Google gets Android into that many vehicles one day, and consider the potential for apps that cater to the driving experience. Also consider that app-making is getting simpler.
As we discussed before, Internet-ready vehicles were one of the more interesting themes throughout the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. One vehicle in particular that WebProNews got an up-close look at was the 2011 Ford Super Duty, which the company refers to as a "contractor’s dream."
Checking out the truck, it’s not hard to see why they would call it that. It has a computer in it running Windows-embedded software, built specifically for Ford by Microsoft.
The software allows businesses to essentially carry their offices with them right in the truck. It has:
– Internet connectivity
– Word processing
– Spreasheets
– Bluetooth-enabled Keyboard and Printer
– hands free, voice activated controls
– It can send and receive phone calls
That’s in addition to all of the actual truck-related features. Ford suggests that contractors can use the truck to print up invoices on the spot, and generally manage their businesses. Pretty cool stuff.
This isn’t the first cool web-related effort we’ve seen from Ford, however. They’ve already been turning cars into mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. The company has also shown how web-savvy it is with its efforts in social media marketing, which Ford Motor Company head of social media Scott Monty discussed with WebProNews at another recent event.