As reported by Ford
DEARBORN, Mich. – Ford is tapping into one of the world’s greatest and vast resources – consumers – to discover the next-best automotive ideas and technologies.
Marking today’s opening of the SAE World Congress, Mark Fields, Ford president, The Americas, announced the launch of a new initiative that furthers the company’s commitment to open innovation. The new “Your Ideas” section of The Ford Story (www.thefordstory.com), the brand’s interactive consumer Web site, will invite visitors to submit, share and suggest ideas and technologies they believe fit in the automotive space.
“Ford continues to push the envelope when it comes to engaging consumers in what’s next for Ford cars and trucks,” Fields said. “We are going beyond traditional consumer market research, studies and focus groups. Ford is turning to the social Web as an innovative way of generating new vehicle feature ideas customers really want and value.”
The pilot session of “Your Ideas” gives consumers the ability to participate in a community-based setting where they can review and rate posted ideas and track what people think about their own suggestions. Ideas that receive the most “thumbs ups” from viewers will be elevated to a most-popular idea list and reviewed by Ford’s Advanced Product Marketing and Planning teams.
The “Your Ideas” forum covers the automotive gamut, soliciting consumer suggestions on categories ranging from vehicle connectivity and comfort and convenience to fuel economy to performance and safety.
Space for sharing
Since The Ford Story went live in 2008, the site has logged more than 2.6 million visits, offering passionate Ford owners and those new to the brand the opportunity to post their favorite Ford story, photos and videos; comment about the company’s latest news and products; locate all of the company’s social networking accounts; watch videos and more.
The announcement of the new idea exchange portal and Ford’s increased effort to directly engage customers in the ‘What’s Next?’ conversation dovetails with the 2010 SAE World Congress in Detroit, which is themed “Ecollaboration.”
Fields helped promote the theme of the premier engineering industry conference on Tuesday morning, speaking about how Ford is embracing greater collaboration with not only customers but other “automotive outsiders” as it develops the high-impact products that customers want and value.
Opening doors
Ford’s overarching adoption of the open innovation model made popular by social media, software developers and technology companies has already generated impressive relationships with a growing list of who’s who in the worlds of academia, suppliers, consumer electronics and information technology. Just as impressive are the results and ongoing research projects attached to these relationships.
Ford is currently working with the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, for instance, on the “American Journey 2.0” advanced research project to help define the next frontier of in-car communications. The student collaboration is aimed at responsible development of social networking apps for the car and could help Ford model future iterations of Ford SYNC.
DEARBORN, Mich. – Ford is tapping into one of the world’s greatest and vast resources – consumers – to discover the next-best automotive ideas and technologies.
Marking today’s opening of the SAE World Congress, Mark Fields, Ford president, The Americas, announced the launch of a new initiative that furthers the company’s commitment to open innovation. The new “Your Ideas” section of The Ford Story (www.thefordstory.com), the brand’s interactive consumer Web site, will invite visitors to submit, share and suggest ideas and technologies they believe fit in the automotive space.
“Ford continues to push the envelope when it comes to engaging consumers in what’s next for Ford cars and trucks,” Fields said. “We are going beyond traditional consumer market research, studies and focus groups. Ford is turning to the social Web as an innovative way of generating new vehicle feature ideas customers really want and value.”
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| Photo: Ford |
The pilot session of “Your Ideas” gives consumers the ability to participate in a community-based setting where they can review and rate posted ideas and track what people think about their own suggestions. Ideas that receive the most “thumbs ups” from viewers will be elevated to a most-popular idea list and reviewed by Ford’s Advanced Product Marketing and Planning teams.
The “Your Ideas” forum covers the automotive gamut, soliciting consumer suggestions on categories ranging from vehicle connectivity and comfort and convenience to fuel economy to performance and safety.
Space for sharing
Since The Ford Story went live in 2008, the site has logged more than 2.6 million visits, offering passionate Ford owners and those new to the brand the opportunity to post their favorite Ford story, photos and videos; comment about the company’s latest news and products; locate all of the company’s social networking accounts; watch videos and more.
The announcement of the new idea exchange portal and Ford’s increased effort to directly engage customers in the ‘What’s Next?’ conversation dovetails with the 2010 SAE World Congress in Detroit, which is themed “Ecollaboration.”
Fields helped promote the theme of the premier engineering industry conference on Tuesday morning, speaking about how Ford is embracing greater collaboration with not only customers but other “automotive outsiders” as it develops the high-impact products that customers want and value.
Opening doors
Ford’s overarching adoption of the open innovation model made popular by social media, software developers and technology companies has already generated impressive relationships with a growing list of who’s who in the worlds of academia, suppliers, consumer electronics and information technology. Just as impressive are the results and ongoing research projects attached to these relationships.
Ford is currently working with the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, for instance, on the “American Journey 2.0” advanced research project to help define the next frontier of in-car communications. The student collaboration is aimed at responsible development of social networking apps for the car and could help Ford model future iterations of Ford SYNC.