Ford’s Fusion 41 Challenge – What Are We Missing?
October 26th, 2009
Sit down and buckle in (literally), this week we are taking the #SocialMedia discussion in a very different direction. Instead of learning during these chats, we have been asked by Ford Motor Company’s Scott Monty to help
teach. If you are not aware, Scott is on a tear of late with the tremendous success of the Ford Fiesta Movement, he is now going for the equivalent of an encore with the Fusion 41 challenge. Their newest challenge asks for:
- Current 2010 model Ford Fusion owners/leasees to apply for the challenge
- Eight (8) teams (to include the owner and four (4) team members each) will be selected
- Ford will provide a 2010 Fusion model to each team to compete with
- Teams will perform a series of challenges taking place over a 3 week period.
- To coincide with the Fusion Hybrid’s 41 mpg rating, the challenges will take place every 41 hours
- Team members will complete a task and “hand-off” like a baton to the next member
- All the while, team members are required to post content and updates across their social networks online
The winning team’s leader will get their new 2010 Fusion paid off and the team members will get free gas for a year. If you want all the rules check here.
So how can all of us help Scott Monty and Ford Motor? Well, hang on a second and we’ll get to that. First, it’s important that you understand where they have come from and where they are going. This deck from Scott’s recent keynote at OMMA Global 2009 provides a good overview and some insight into Ford Motor’s social media marketing strategy.
View more presentations from Scott Monty.If you notice, the last content slide lists “Listening to our community for suggestions” and that, my friends, is why we are all here. Scott has asked for input regarding Ford Motor’s latest social media marketing project, the Fusion 41 challenge. The format will be similar to prior weeks with 3 questions, a new question every 20 minutes. The difference is the questions. Scott will be providing insight into the planning of the campaign and we will be providing recommendations in how to think differently and possibly add a new dimension to the initiative.
Yes that’s right, for an hour we will all be honorary social marketing consultants for one of the hottest social media brands out there. Please note: any suggestions made by you during this one hour +/- event are provided for Ford Motor and Ford Motor may use your suggestions at will.
Topic: Ford’s Fusion 41 Challenge – What Are We Missing?
Q1: Evaluate the WOM/Influence strategy
Q2: Evaluate the online marketing strategy
Q3: What are we missing to make this truly exceptional?
Daily Archives: October 26, 2009
What do you do when an employee slanders you via Twitter?
In professional sports, there is the unwritten rule of keeping your dirty laundry in the clubhouse, or in the locker room. By that, if you, as an athlete or a coach, have a problem with a teammate or a coach, you addressed it internally and did not air it with the press or the public.
But this is the age of social media and full transparency…
Yesterday, after the NFL Kansas City Chiefs got throttled by the San Diego Chargers 37-7, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson decided to air his dirty laundry. Via Twitter!
Though his Tweets are protected, this came via NBC Sports and thus I have no reason to doubt that this has been fact checked:
Johnson’s first tweet:
“My father got more creditentials than most of these pro coaches, “Google my father!!!!!!!”
Then this:
“My father played for the coach from ‘rememeber the titans.’ Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn.”
So now what? An employee is slandering his boss via social media. The employee, not on company time, is slamming the organization. Perception, whether it’s true or not, is now being shaped by a disgruntled employee’s tweets. What does a company do? What do the coaches do? What does an employer do when someone does a hatchet job on the bosses and the organization? Does social media change the playing field? Do protected tweets mean that the tweets are now safe from public consumption and thus are off the record? Can the employee say, I didn’t say that?
A lot of gray area here. But the fact of the matter is the damage has been done and the Kansas Chiefs have to do something about it. Do the Chiefs have a social media policy? At the moment the NFL policy on tweeting is pretty weak and I’m wondering if that might change because of something like this.
More questions need to be answered but consider this a case study in motion here.
On Leadership and Chris Brogan
Last week I talked a lot about pushing the envelope in how we approach social media leadership. And with good reason. If we’re to get to that next level, we have to quit talking and start walking. Quit repeating and start leading. Raising the bar if you will.
For a lot of you, you have the 101, 201, 301 and 401 classes down, and it’s now time to graduate. You don’t need any more proof and you don’t need to talk about it any longer. It’s time to put rubber to the road. But I have a feeling a lot of you are going to miss the critical underlying point of all of this.
You’re going to miss the point about how much work it takes.
Whether it’s your “personal brand”, your company, or your client, there is still a lot to be done on the “roll up your sleeves” side. Case in point, Chris Brogan, who most of you should know or heard of, is not an overnight success. Before Chris became the face of the social media industry, speaking everywhere and seemingly showing up at every major conference, I knew him as just a content producing madman providing direction in the nascent world of social media.
Today, he still cranks it out, but there is even more on the plate than ever before. Yet he has more than put his time in, and yet he still has not relaxed or let up. He even says as much in the below videos. To that end, Chris even managed to host one of our Hashtagsocialmedia tweetchats!
He’s reaping the rewards of his efforts just now.
In his 3 part series Chris doesn’t so much give you the secret to his success, as much as he he merely lets you know that he is far from being an overnight success and that he has been busting his ass for the better part of 11 years. The secret sauce? The harder you work, the luckier you get. Enjoy the videos.
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