This is the 2nd blog post on my Ford Experience. To read the 1st post you can find it here.
First day 150 bloggers around the world converged in Dearborn Michigan for the North American International Auto Show on behalf of Ford Motor Company. The first night took us to the Henry Ford Museum that was not open to the public yet. We had the opportunity to have dinner amongst some famous automobile artifacts. The integration of 18 touch screen kiosks at various locations at the exhibit was a great mix of old history and new technology. It's a great way to learn and see the progression of the automobile. This is stuff I didn't think would interest me but it was actually enlightening. Learning the significance in historical moments and change in design and style is very cool and inspiring from a creative sense for me.
This is one of the older vehicles on display at the Henry Ford Museum.
It wasn't only cars at the museum. Here is the original menu in one of the diners displayed at Ford Museum. Overall it was a great evening to understand the history of Ford and it's importance in the automobile industry.
The next day we had the opportunity to wake up very early to see the big announcement and showcase of the Ford Fusion at Joe Louis Arena. This press conference was only open to auto journalist and Ford employees. This is probably the first time a significant number in attendance were blogger/social media types. The atmosphere had a very Cirque De Soleil feel to it. If you click on the image below it should give you a bit of a 180 degree feel to the event.
The showcase of the Ford Fusion.
Here is the media scrum after the presentation. Numerous media outlets on hand for this event. Including FOX2 below.
Overall the sentiment online and throughout media outlets have been positive and I'm sure have exceeded expectations in terms of coverage for Ford. Here is another local Detroit News coverage.
Finally on the same evening of the launch of the Ford Fusion we had the opportunity to visit Ford Headquarters. Scott Monty (Head Of Social Media) was able to address the bloggers with some stats and social metrics across the various Social Media platforms. Reaching out to bloggers that blog about fashion, lifestyle and digital moms seems to be effective.
Social Media stats of that day:
Over 2200 social media mentions.
Reached over 5 million unique followers on Twitter.
40% of the coverage that day was on Ford. Chrysler had 18% and GM had 15%.
*Stay tuned for more on this series for Ford. Keep in mind I was never asked to blog or post about this event. I was invited by Ford to experience the NAIAS and get a rare glimpse behind the scenes of Ford.*
