Daniel Howes of The Detroit News has written a piece on the project that was supposed to pave the way for Ford's Way Forward turnaround plan. It wasn't as big as Alan Mulally coming in or the restructuring plans now in effect, but it did involve Clinton White House consultants using polling and campaign techniques to turn around Ford's image before the company itself tried to do an about face. It was known as "180 degrees in 180 days." Even though most political campaigns are very short-term and focus on improving an image in a matter of weeks, 103-yr-old Ford thought this might help at a time when 80% of its potential customers thought it had fallen behind the competition.
The plan was formulated and implemented last year but the results are still unclear. It placed an emphasis on innovation and safety because they were identified as a positive buzzwords and a renewed focus on Ford being "America's car company." While some of this is still working its way into Ford advertising and product development, a lot of it is on hold while more immediate concerns are being taken care of, mmm... like being profitable. Playing up your company's strengths and advances is always good as long as its authentic, and we think Ford should continue down the path of first becoming in reality what it wants to advertise itself as. Read the full story by following the link.
[Source: The Detroit News]
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