*By Carlo Versano*
Ford's decision to tap the agency that executed the recent headline-grabbing Nike ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick for the automaker's new branding campaign is no accident.
As more brash companies like Tesla ($TSLA) and Uber suck up the oxygen in what was once a staid industry, Ford is "dialing up the attitude and braggadocio" to get people talking about the 115-year-old brand, said Ad Age's E.J. Schultz.
Ford's new "Built Ford Proud" campaign is the work of the Wieden+Kennedy agency, long known for its creative ads for Nike ($NKE) ー including its controversial ad featuring ex-quarterback and activist Kaepernick. The first "Built Ford" ad stars Bryan Cranston inhabiting a series of cinematic personas that all take subtle digs at the tech industry. Referencing the iconic "Built Ford Tough" tagline, the ad emphasizes Ford's manufacturing chops, size, and heritage over the sexier promises of futuristic start-ups.
"Talk doesn't get things done," Cranston says in the ad. "Building does."
In a sector that's slowly moving from a focus on ownership to a mobility-as-a-service model and making billion-dollar investments in autonomous tech, Ford ($F) has struggled to stay relevant, which has been reflected in its lagging sales and slumping stock.
"They had to do something with their communications strategy," Schultz said.
Ford ー and legacy automakers in general ー need to walk a fine line: show that they are serious about investing in future technologies that are likely to revolutionize the industry, from autonomy to electrification, while also satisfying its customers who still walk into showrooms to buy trucks and cars.
"They're trying to wear multiple hats," as Schultz said, but the "job number one" for Ford is still selling automobiles, like the F-150, which happens to be the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.
"The trick is to do that and figure out the future," Schultz said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ford-turns-the-key-on-its-image).
Elon Musk may not have founded Tesla, but he has become the company, and it’s become him. Now sales are plummeting. Is he toxic for the Tesla?
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
Europeans upset with Elon Musk still aren’t buying his electric cars, adding to a long losing streak for his company.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
