• Keeping promises.

    Posted on November 30th, 2009 by and currently 22 commenting.

    Okay. It’s official. I am a Scott Monty groupie. Have been from our very first conversation. Yeah. Yeah. It was twitter talk.

    Now stop. Before you roll your eyes again, this is a really good story.

    Back in August, I had the chance to meet Scott in person. There he was in his white bucks with a blue Ford logo neatly pinned to his lapel and well, I said what any good groupie would say:

    ” I want a Ford pin.”

    He asked for my card, slipped it into his pocket and we talked briefly.

    Scott asked me what I drove. I told him (not a Ford). There was laughter. (I am a frustrated wanna be race car driver.) Then he asked the big question, “Would you ever consider buying a Ford?”

    And you know what – here’s is the truth. I would.

    Something about “knowing” someone at Ford has made me a sincere fan. I’ve even found myself defending them on occasion, in one on one conversations and even to large groups. I have just grown – well — fond of them.

    And I can’t for the life of me figure out what changed other than the fact that there is this very real, very approachable “social butterfly” type of guy named Scott in the mix. Would my feelings for Ford change if he went away?

    Dangerously, the answer might be yes.

    I applaud Ford for putting a person front and center. So many brands are just jumping on the social media bandwagon without a strategy. But Ford has one and in my humble opinion they are being pretty true to it: Ford simply wants to “humanize the brand”. Second time I have repeated that here because, I love the simplicity of that. And because I know this; people trust people. People who make and keep promises.

    So a pin (and a sweet story) today, a car tomorrow?

    Who knows?

    In the meantime, I will wear my pin proudly and create a little Ford “visual buzz” along the way…

    Thanks. Scott. Oh. And you too, Ford.

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  • http://www.mariareyesmcdavis.com Maria Reyes-McDavis

    This is such a great post! Promises, commitments are foundational to real, human relationships. This can only be achieved by doing what Ford is doing with letting Scott be front and center :-)

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  • http://pmerrill.com/ paul merrill

    That personal touch speaks volumes.

    Ford is winning the USA car manufacturer race, for sure.

  • http://AuthenticOrganizations.com CV Harquail

    Robbin,

    I’ve had a similar experience with ScottMonty & Ford– and have felt how a very simple interaction (in my case, over an academic paper about Brandividuals) can completely shift one’s emotions about a company. I also have a ‘fondness” for Ford, based on what Scott and his team are doing, and I have pretty much zero interest in Ford otherwise.

    I’m intrigued by the psychology behind this dynamic, but I haven’t seen anything that explains the intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms…. I would love to learn more about how this works, and what that means for corporations and their reptuations, especially among folks like me who otherwise wouldn’t care that much…

    Any insights, I’ll share…
    cvh

  • Roger Ratekin

    Scott is great.

  • http://brainsonfire.com Robbin

    I actually thought long and hard about publishing this post. It felt a little bit predicable to post about it.

    But my reaction was sincere. I was touched by the thought and effort it took to keep such a simple promise. And it made me realize that it really is the little things that make a company “human”. The thank you’s, an I’m sorry when needed or just spelling someone’s name right.

    Yes, Paul, those things do speak volumes.

    It seems to me the larger the company, the more concern with this thing called “scale”.

    Maybe being human is not about “scale” at all…

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  • http://www.scottmonty.com Scott Monty

    Hi Robbin,

    Thank you so much for posting this. It’s really about your personal reaction, not just another predictable outcome. And for everyone who has a similar experience, their reaction is unique in some way. Like Craig Daitch and his reaction:
    http://www.damniwish.com/2009/02/fans-you-need-fans-not-customers-fans-who-love-you.html

    Scale is certainly on our minds as we move to the next level with social media at Ford. And we need to move you from being a Scott Monty groupie to a Ford groupie. :-)

    Best,
    Scott

  • http://twitter.com/ColbyWG Colby Gergen

    I haven’t had the opportunity to meet Scott, but I find myself more trusting of Ford because of him. It’s a weird phenomenon; I have not driven a Ford in, well, ever, but find myself more likely to look at Fords today than when I shopped for my first car four years ago. Your post made me wonder, “why?”, and here’s what I came up with:

    1. It’s easier to trust a face than a logo.
    (Most) people like to trust people by default. For me, at least, you have my trust until you lose it (but you can earn it back). On the other hand, (most) people don’t trust businesses by default. Businesses have to earn trust from consumers. Sure, all businesses have people behind them, but the way Ford and Scott do things is different- being an employee at Ford is a piece of Scott, as opposed to Scott being a piece of Ford (I understand it goes both ways, but most businesses’ public projection is the second, not the first). I trust Ford because they are associated with Scott, not the other way around.

    2. It’s ballsy, on both ends.
    It appears to me that Ford allows Scott some pretty great wiggle-room in what he does. That’s gotta be rough for a big company- letting your “social face” do his own thing. Ford gets my respect for doing this, along with bonus cred for being ahead of the pack. It takes balls for Scott, because personally, he is tied to Ford. Remember what happened with Jim Carrey’s character in “Fun with Dick & Jane”? The same thing could happen to Scott (furiously knocking on wood now). It takes a great deal of trust between Scott and Ford to do this- and I respect them both for putting themselves out there. It’s like a ‘catch me if I fall’ trust exercise for everyone to see.

    Great post, Robbin. It really got the gears turning.

  • http://brainsonfire.com Robbin

    @CV Harquail : ” A very simple interaction can completely shift one’s emotions about a company.” Spot on.

    And @scottmonty : Sweet story from Craig Daitch. I think the power of what you and Alan (opps, and Ford) are doing is creating stories. We have this saying… “a company is the stories it tells”. You guys seem to be having fun creating powerful stories. I do hope it’s as fun as it looks. Genuine fun is a magnet. And a bit rare in the corporate world.

    @colby : Wow. Great insight! Thanks for sharing.

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  • http://www.brennifresh.com Andrew Brynjulson

    I feel the same way about Scott and the Ford Brand.

    Before I knew what twitter was or what it could do, I had tweeted something about not liking an unofficial Ford logo I had seen. To my surprise, a Ford big whig named Scott Monty tweeted at me offer a friendly reminder that it was an unofficial logo and he didn’t like it either.

    My reaction was, “Ford is made up of human beings?”

    Consumers are used to the Evil Corporation image. So I think anytime a company can prove that genuine people are behind the brand, its a good thing.

    I know I’d rather by a car from real people than a factory with a logo on it.

    Great post Robbin.

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  • http://www.bossey.com Keith Bossey

    What struck me about this is both the simplicity of the promise (a pin) and the power of “knowing” someone at Ford. I work with many banks and time and time again, the reasons for choosing where you bank come down to knowing someone that banks or works there. Its great to see that Ford has empowered Scott to be human. If more companies provided that empowerment, they would be much more competitive. A wonderful post! PS. I drive a Ford.

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  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennisyu Dennis Yu

    Scott Monty can sell cars!