Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company discusses social media
Yesterday I was at the worldwide headquarters of Ford Motor Company and had an opportunity to connect with my friend Scott Monty, Ford's digital and multimedia communications manager.
I asked Scott about what social media initiatives are happening at Ford. Watch the video to hear Scott talking about the new Fiesta Movement, working with bloggers (hint: they are not all the same!), and why all large companies need to be active in social media.
It was particularly interesting for me to learn about the Fiesta Movement. Ford chose 100 "agents" to spend 6 months behind the wheel of their own Fiesta, "lifestreaming their experiences, and completing monthly missions to show what the Fiesta is all about." The Fiesta Movement is a very interesting social, media experiment and worth checking out.
Disclosure: While at Ford's offices I delivered a paid presentation to a team of communications and marketing staff.
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Yes, Ford was smart to embrace social media and online marketing early on. If they can do it with the Fiesta, then any car company can do it. This is great news, and good momentum for B2B and B2C marketers in large corporations.
Great piece, David. Always interesting to see the way social media is working its way into the Fortune 100.
Scott had a great post (and video) a couple of weeks ago on a Twitter conversation he and Ford CEO Alan Mulally had with customers. Talk about a great way to get prospective customers invested in the brand!
Definitely worth checking out and a nice add-on to the video here.
Great to see Dave live at the "Glass House" with Scott Monty! There are a couple of reasons why Ford still floats while crosstown rivals have sunk. 1, count the number of Mazda alumni (Ford ISEs) among the corporate officers (Fields, Booth, Parker, Kuzack, Bakaj, Shanks et al). 2, Ford Public Affairs has always been among the smartest corp comms depts anywhere. I would like to hear more about how Scott Monty intends to embed social media in global motor show press briefings. I see getting amateur bloggers involved as one key. The other is a better way to access the reactions from 700 or so global auto journalists attending these events. I'd love to watch the press events live then get a stream of reaction from pros and amateurs alike. I think it would be a huge tragedy if the industry allowed the global show system to die. The Japanese pulled out of NAIAS (Detroit show) and Detroit 3 are pulling out of Tokyo show in retaliation. To me, this amounts to fighting with knives in an inflatable liferaft. Finally, Fiesta and its cousin Mazda2 are two of the best cars on the planet today. Glad to see Ford finally wising up and introducing it in N.A. Mazda is bringing Mazda2 to Canada but not US... maybe because the sun rises latest in Irvine CA.
John R. Harris -- Ford/Mazda fan in Japan.
Great idea to stream the press conferences live and also to highlight the instant reactions. I'm having dinner with Scott tonight and will ask him about that.
Great interview. I moved to Ann Arbor in 1987 and tried to land a job at Ford. I was told by Ford's chief economist at the time that he was the only outside hire---you needed to start at Ford to have an executive job at Ford. It's great to see the company so open to new marketing methods.
Openness to the outside is one of the reason's Ford is doing so much better than GM and Chrysler and has a stronger, more innovative business model and offering.
David, we met at the CEO Read event in December. It's great to follow your blog.
@John Harris: we're already doing that with auto shows. We continue to invite non-automotive bloggers to the press events, and this year we live-streamed the reveal of the 2010 Taurus, Fiesta and Lincoln MKT. We continue to post updates on http://autoshows.ford.com and supply links through a badge on http://media.ford.com when the shows are in full swing.
Of course, we're always looking for ways to improve and stay ahead of the curve. :-)
Scott: Hadn't seen the autoshows site, which I like. Social inputs are nicely included but I still don't see how you can access pro media reactions to press briefings. It shouldn't be either/or pro and social but more bandwidth for both. I looked at Jan. NAIAS -- shame about the Taurus script someone handed Fields. He did way better launching Mazda6 in 2002. If you want to see some good motor show speeches, look for Carlos Ghosn launching Nissan GT/R Tokyo 2007 or Steve Odell launching 3rd-gen Mazda MX-5 (Miata) at Geneva 04.
John Harris, Onjuku Japan
David: I've just emailed the link of this interview to the 8 CEO's I'm meeting with next week to discuss social media. I've instructed them to watch it before my presentation. Great interview and resource. It was nice to hear Scott discuss the importance of buy-in from the top and representation at the executive level. Thanks!
Angela Connor | @communitygirl
Senhores ,
gostaria de de sugerir , para vossas campanhas comerciais o uso
do seguinte mote: "a Ford esta convocando os proprietários do Ford-T para um recall.Dirijan-se para a concessinária mais proxima"
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Yes, Ford was smart to embrace social media and online marketing early on. If they can do it with the Fiesta, then any car company can do it. This is great news, and good momentum for B2B and B2C marketers in large corporations.
Posted by: Michael Flint | May 05, 2009 at 02:42 PM
Great video, David. To see a Fortune 100 company truly embrace social media the way Ford has is unique and refreshing.
Posted by: Brandon Chesnutt | May 05, 2009 at 03:14 PM
Great Job! Like this piece David. Scott is doing an awesome job for Ford!
Doug Menzer
Posted by: freshmenz | May 05, 2009 at 04:52 PM
Good stuff David, very interesting.
Posted by: Luke | May 05, 2009 at 07:38 PM
Great piece, David. Always interesting to see the way social media is working its way into the Fortune 100.
Scott had a great post (and video) a couple of weeks ago on a Twitter conversation he and Ford CEO Alan Mulally had with customers. Talk about a great way to get prospective customers invested in the brand!
Definitely worth checking out and a nice add-on to the video here.
Posted by: Chris Plamann | May 05, 2009 at 08:27 PM
Great to see Dave live at the "Glass House" with Scott Monty! There are a couple of reasons why Ford still floats while crosstown rivals have sunk. 1, count the number of Mazda alumni (Ford ISEs) among the corporate officers (Fields, Booth, Parker, Kuzack, Bakaj, Shanks et al). 2, Ford Public Affairs has always been among the smartest corp comms depts anywhere. I would like to hear more about how Scott Monty intends to embed social media in global motor show press briefings. I see getting amateur bloggers involved as one key. The other is a better way to access the reactions from 700 or so global auto journalists attending these events. I'd love to watch the press events live then get a stream of reaction from pros and amateurs alike. I think it would be a huge tragedy if the industry allowed the global show system to die. The Japanese pulled out of NAIAS (Detroit show) and Detroit 3 are pulling out of Tokyo show in retaliation. To me, this amounts to fighting with knives in an inflatable liferaft. Finally, Fiesta and its cousin Mazda2 are two of the best cars on the planet today. Glad to see Ford finally wising up and introducing it in N.A. Mazda is bringing Mazda2 to Canada but not US... maybe because the sun rises latest in Irvine CA.
John R. Harris -- Ford/Mazda fan in Japan.
Posted by: nakadaki | May 05, 2009 at 11:03 PM
John,
Great idea to stream the press conferences live and also to highlight the instant reactions. I'm having dinner with Scott tonight and will ask him about that.
David
Posted by: David Meerman Scott | May 06, 2009 at 04:17 AM
be entertained
Posted by: cat | May 06, 2009 at 08:11 AM
Great interview. I moved to Ann Arbor in 1987 and tried to land a job at Ford. I was told by Ford's chief economist at the time that he was the only outside hire---you needed to start at Ford to have an executive job at Ford. It's great to see the company so open to new marketing methods.
Openness to the outside is one of the reason's Ford is doing so much better than GM and Chrysler and has a stronger, more innovative business model and offering.
David, we met at the CEO Read event in December. It's great to follow your blog.
Posted by: Kay Plantes | May 06, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Great Interview!
I was just recently hired in as Belle Tire's "Social Media Coordinator".
As a person who is still in the learning process, it was great to hear from someone successful so close to home.
Posted by: Kari McLeod | May 06, 2009 at 03:18 PM
@John Harris: we're already doing that with auto shows. We continue to invite non-automotive bloggers to the press events, and this year we live-streamed the reveal of the 2010 Taurus, Fiesta and Lincoln MKT. We continue to post updates on http://autoshows.ford.com and supply links through a badge on http://media.ford.com when the shows are in full swing.
Of course, we're always looking for ways to improve and stay ahead of the curve. :-)
Posted by: Scott | May 06, 2009 at 11:50 PM
Scott: Hadn't seen the autoshows site, which I like. Social inputs are nicely included but I still don't see how you can access pro media reactions to press briefings. It shouldn't be either/or pro and social but more bandwidth for both. I looked at Jan. NAIAS -- shame about the Taurus script someone handed Fields. He did way better launching Mazda6 in 2002. If you want to see some good motor show speeches, look for Carlos Ghosn launching Nissan GT/R Tokyo 2007 or Steve Odell launching 3rd-gen Mazda MX-5 (Miata) at Geneva 04.
John Harris, Onjuku Japan
Posted by: nakadaki | May 07, 2009 at 05:13 AM
You were here in Michigan and I had no idea! D'oh! I need to pay more attention!
Posted by: Stacy Lukas | May 08, 2009 at 11:48 AM
David: I've just emailed the link of this interview to the 8 CEO's I'm meeting with next week to discuss social media. I've instructed them to watch it before my presentation. Great interview and resource. It was nice to hear Scott discuss the importance of buy-in from the top and representation at the executive level. Thanks!
Angela Connor | @communitygirl
Posted by: Angela Connor | May 29, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Senhores ,
gostaria de de sugerir , para vossas campanhas comerciais o uso
do seguinte mote: "a Ford esta convocando os proprietários do Ford-T para um recall.Dirijan-se para a concessinária mais proxima"
Posted by: RAPHAEL BAPTISTA | August 03, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Great Piece, it made for a pleasant read Ford & Social media addressed is interesting.
Posted by: Auto Repair AZ | January 24, 2011 at 03:30 PM
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Posted by: Notebook | February 08, 2011 at 08:51 AM