A “brand team” in name only at Ford
The January 23 Wall Street Journal (sub required) has an illuminating report of Ford Motor Company’s operations shakeup and marketing overhaul. Among the far-reaching Ford initiatives was a specially-tasked “brand team,” which was charged with “figuring out what consumers Ford could get and who they couldn’t.” As part of its tasking, the team watched “a video of Americana images like a Bruce Springsteen album cover, cotton fields, open roads in the heartland and the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team set to “Little Pink Houses,” by John Cougar Mellencamp.”
It’s hard to understand how this is a “brand team” in any productive sense. It looks more like a sales team dressed in an ad campaign.
The mission of a brand team is to create more customer value. At Ford, this would mean building better cars and packing more Ford experience into the art of driving. It’s never a good sign when a “brand team” is asked to focus on “images” instead of delivering value customers can use.
Brands are not artificial constructs broadcast from on-high. They’re deep collaborations, especially with customers.
Maybe Ford’s narrow approach was dictated by the very nature of Ford itself. Per the Journal: “Ford management culture remains very much the top down, militaristic institution created in the 1950s . . ..”
If that’s the case, Ford’s brand revival will be even more difficult.
