The Digital Bus

Seth Godin today talks about Henry Ford and the assembly line. The assembly line revolutionized our manufacturing process, and changed the world forever. As Seth points out though, it also brought us to where we are today, a country trained for blue collar work that is overpaid and struggling to stay alive in the global auto industry.

Being from Michigan and growing up in a Ford family, the Ford brand is near and dear to my heart. Watching Ford fall from a great company, to a company barely hanging on has been a difficult thing for me. I feel that Ford has the cars today to compete. They have improved their quality, their designs are nice, and they have many options for a young family man like myself.

Ford has even managed to get through 30 years of some of the worst advertising I have ever seen. Plus bad ideas, like having every car name begin with the letter “F”. That is the silliest thing I ever heard. Ford has survived in spite of themselves.

Ford is a company that could benefit from Digital Marketing. I know they are making some efforts. However, I don’t know if they are fully connecting with consumers. Or fully utilizing their Iconic brand. For example, how could they let me go from being a Ford owner to now a two Honda car family? It was far too easy to leave Ford. And I am not being asked back.

My guess is there are a whole wave of 30-something people who are moving away from Ford. Despite new traditional advertising attempts to bring them back in. I don’t pay attention to TV advertising. And what is Ford doing in Digital? I don’t know. I don’t see it. It’s certainly not anywhere I am spending time.

This company that I LOVE. Hear that, LOVE. Needs to revolutionize the industry again. So what’s next Ford? You gave us the assembly line, about 100 years ago. What can you give us now? I challenge you to change the game - again.