Lisa Materazzo (Ford) | Ready Set Ford: Inside the Bold Global Relaunch

27:56My HR colleagues launched a program that was basically centered around some of the core equities that we identified. It was great. When you think about org design changes based on the brand strategy from the design group, that says it all. It does. It does. So I thought this is proof that it will go far beyond a marketing campaign. It will be embedded within the organization for years to come. Was there a time when you thought it wouldn't land? Was there a low point in this journey? And if there was, how did you handle that? It was the week leading up to the board meeting. So we presented to the board of directors.

28:41How early in the process was this? This was probably a year ago. We had the framework and we wanted to share that with them. And we thought it was so important that it wasn't the marketing team presenting it to them. It was the entire executive leadership team that was represented in that meeting. And with examples of how we would bring it to life. Also, we needed to be very transparent about the challenges we were solving for. We didn't have to bring them the solutions, but we wanted to show them how the brand strategy would help us make decisions and help us fix some of the error states that we had.

29:28as we were preparing the lead up to that, there was, I think, a natural tendency, although I didn't anticipate it at the time, but upon reflection, to start questioning some of the elements of the strategy. And I think it was just as we were bringing it together for a more formal presentation to the board, we were asking ourselves, did we think about this deeply enough? Does this still work? How should we answer these questions? I think a little bit of it was born out of everyone's desire for it to be very polished. When in actuality, I think the benefit of being very transparent in places we didn't have the answers was good.

30:11And it gave them confidence that we were on the right track because we were thinking about it so deeply. But that feeling where it might be coming apart with a board meeting deadline, it's not a good feeling. Not a good feeling at all. I was very nervous and anxious. So what did you do to bring yourself together on that? To set the presentation up differently with the board? Or did you hammer through all those things before you made the presentation? We brought everybody together and just reflected on the decisions we made and why we made them. And kind of gave everyone the latitude or the comfort, reminded them, we aren't bringing this to the board to show that everything is perfectly figured out.

30:56And I give credit, I give a ton of credit to Jim Farley who said that. He's like, it is okay. In fact, we should say this is an area we're struggling with. We don't have it all figured out yet, but this is how we think the brand strategy is going to help us make better decisions in this area, fill in the blank. So he really wanted us to call out those areas.

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32:02So I want to get into the campaign and the brand strategy in a bit more depth because we're talking about your process right now. This is more about what, you know, started to happen about a week ago. So your campaign launched. You went public with it. It was a big media night, Thursday night football, ready, set, forward. You had Jimmy Fallon in Detroit a few days ago for the most amazing show. And I know you were there. Before we get into the elements of the campaign and the brand strategy, just step away from this. Has this been the most amazing week of your career? It's at the top of the list in terms of my career and career accomplishments.

32:39And I will say this is a team sport. I told everybody throughout the process, brand strategy is a team sport. So there are a ton of people who are involved in this and deserve the credit. But it's been a pretty amazing two weeks. And it actually just happens to coincide with my birthday a couple weeks ago. So I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. I wanted nothing more than for the campaign to go live. But it's been a phenomenal two weeks. It actually started with the launch to our dealer body. Several of them helped us along the way in the process, but we had our dealer meeting a few weeks ago.

33:23In person. In person in Las Vegas. And we were able to show them the final version of the creative that would be running on Thursday Night Football. And the response was absolutely amazing. So that was a nice lead in to the external launch of the campaign. What did the dealers, how did they react? What did they say to you? How did it make them feel? It was great because I had dealers who, you know, newer dealers, dealers who have been with Ford for a very long time and they've seen the evolution of the brand and comments like, it gave me goosebumps. This feels like a different Ford, a familiar Ford, but it did expressed in a different way.

34:05You know, it's, it's going to breathe life and energy into the brand. And I think this will give people who never considered Ford a reason to put Ford on their shopping list. And there's no better compliment than those statements. What were the highlights for you in this last week, Lisa? I mean, the dealer meeting is a big one. But what else? I heard you in front of the press as you released the campaign. They're always interesting, right? Yes. The dialogue and Q &A. And I watched many clips of the Jimmy Fallon show, which we can talk about in a minute. Just incredible. But for you personally, what were some of the highlights of this past 10 days?

34:43I loved getting emails from people. I have emails and text messages, whether it's my team or people who I've worked with in the past and haven't heard from in a very long time. And just reach out to say, oh, my gosh, it was so exciting to see that work on TV. Congratulations. Just those little one, two sentence text messages were very gratifying. But I think those from the team earlier this week, the team got together and did kind of a celebratory dinner and just had some fun, raised a glass and toasted us. I wrote a few notes to your team members and I just felt pride in what came back, which says it all.

35:28Now, the Jimmy Fallon show, I mean, the energy level in that room. Wow. Wow. And so I think that that just says so much about the power of what you're doing. And I know that that was about a lot more. That was about Detroit and about him and his song about Detroit and all that sort of. But what did you kind of what you feel in that in the Detroit Opera House that night? It was electric. The feeling in in that venue, that the vibe was absolutely amazing. And really, it starts with two things came together. First, Jimmy is a huge Ford fan. We're in our fifth year of partnership with him, and it is an absolute joy.

36:09And every time we think we've nailed it and it couldn't get bigger or better, we collectively come together and brainstorm all these great ideas, and we end up with something like this. The other piece of it was the audience members. Oh, my goodness. So, so proud of the city. such a community feel and just so welcoming to him. It was amazing. You also, you know, I think this is something may have shifted about your company. I just feel like there's a sense of humor. There's a sense of fun. There's a sense that we don't take ourselves that we're in a very serious business, but we don't take ourselves that seriously.

36:47That came through, which I think is wonderful. It's great. And Jimmy is such a good storyteller and has such a creative mind. When you couple that with his love for our brand and his curiosity for our brand, And every time we have a meeting with him, he starts by asking, what's new? He wants to learn. He wants to learn about the industry. He wants to learn about our products. So it makes it really, really fun. He brings all of that energy and creativity to the integrations that we develop. Whose idea was to have the show here? Was it his or did it come out of a brainstorming? It was rather impromptu.

37:22We were hoping that he could make an appearance at the unveiling of our world headquarters, our new world headquarters, at a global town hall meeting that we had on Monday. And we were trying to coordinate schedules. As you can imagine, his schedule is very busy. And one of the things that became the sticking point was he has this, you know, the show that he needs to record. And we really couldn't coordinate it. someone, I actually don't know who first mentioned it, said, well, one of the ways we could do it is if he recorded his show in Detroit. Oh my goodness. Well, he's never done that here, but they were willing to give it a try.

38:04We landed the venue, which ended up being absolutely amazing. It's stunning and it's very near and dear to Ford. It was the Detroit Opera House. Ford Philanthropy is a huge supporter of the Detroit Opera House. So it had a lot of meaning to us. And it ended up being the perfect venue for his show. Looked great on TV. Looked fabulous on TV and in person. Now, no campaign comes out of thin air. You know that. So I want you to talk a bit about this campaign, Ready, Set, Forward. Great campaigns are always based on a truth, something that opens up your mind. And some of the comments you said about how the dealers reacted to this says it's working that way.

38:43And they always have resonance, right? With everyone, employees, customers, just everyone in the community. So tell us about the journey to Ready, Set Forward. What was the strategy? What were the pillars? What was the work to get you there? And I know this area, which you've all sort of, the lifestyle audiences was a big part of that. So can you step back and it's a big question, but give us the overview on what are the iceberg below what we see in the campaign? It really starts with the essence, who we are as a brand and what we believe. And through all the work that we've done, we kept coming back to, we drive progress with heart.

39:23Like we are a very purpose-driven company. We're very passionate about what we do. I noticed that as soon as I joined, it was so evident. And we also believe in human capability. And I think that's important, especially in this moment in time, There's a lot of angst. We uncovered that through the global research. People can feel very overwhelmed, whether that's by financial circumstances or health and well-being, political, you know, technology. There are so many changes that are happening in the world. It can be overwhelming. But the human truth that we discovered, the thing that was universal, is people are amazingly resilient and optimistic when they feel capable.

40:09When they feel like they have the tools and the resources to take on those challenges, they can rise to incredible levels. I think it's especially true with our Ford customers. So once we tapped into that insight, the campaign unfolded before us. We know what our equities are as a brand. We know that the brand for 122 years has been rooted in capability, trust, community, and passion. When you put that all together. We wanted this campaign to be the inspiration and aspiration for our consumers. A little bit of a starting point for them to say, let's do this. You made a choice on audiences or communities you would focus on.

40:58Not that you don't want everyone to be a Ford person. Sure. But you do make choices on what you think are the right audiences for the future. So can you talk a bit about that and how that played out? Because I know that is underlying the design person's idea to organize on those communities. We spent a lot of time very thoughtfully identifying our audiences. Not only the audiences we want to serve, but whether or not we could serve them credibly. Understanding their functional needs and their emotional needs. Stepping back and being very honest and saying, can and should we serve this group? When we did that, we landed on three audiences and we call them build, thrill and adventure.

41:43Build probably needs the least amount of explanation, but we're builders. Right. You know, Henry Ford was a builder. Look at his legacy that continued on until today. Then when you look at our product portfolio, F-series, 48 years of leadership. Build is so core to who we are and how we serve the community. that made complete sense. When you look at other vehicles in our lineup, that thrill pillar makes perfect sense to us. We have Mustangs, we go racing on more continents than virtually any OEM, and we race not only on track, but we race off-road in great series like Dakar. And that pushing the boundaries, challenging the status quo, that all seems very credible to what Ford has always been.

42:35And we have product services and experiences to serve that lifestyle audience. So that one made sense to us, as did adventure. And adventure can take many forms. So certainly when you're talking about our hugely capable Bronco that can go anywhere and do anything and have these epic off-road adventures, but similarly on-road adventures, it's really more of a state of mind than it is the terrain, because you can have epic family adventures and road trips, and you could make an epic journey out of taking the kids across town for soccer practice. They're different type of journeys. They're different types of adventures, but they are things that Ford can serve.

43:20We have the products. We have the know-how. We have the deep understanding of what the needs are of that audience. Can you talk about the power of that focus on those three audiences? Because I watched it and most companies start with a core product or service when they're a startup. Sure. And some companies never leave that. And I think this focus on, okay, we know what we're good at. We know what our history is. These are the audiences that we think we can serve well and we can win with them. But I watched the conversations changed in your company with that journey you were on. And could you talk a bit about the power of that and why it stuck?

43:59I think it stuck because at the very beginning, even before we had defined the framework of the strategy, we were so committed to being customer-centric. That was foundational. We had to get everyone on board with being customer-centric. In doing that, it actually helped that we are in such a state of transformation in the industry and in our business because we needed a North Star. And it's been proven time and time again, regardless of company, regardless of industry, you need to stay focused on the customers. Now, saying that and saying you're customer centric is much easier than doing it day in, day out and being radically customer centric.

44:46So having that agreement up front was key. So we wouldn't allow ourselves to move forward with additional work until we had the alignment on the lifestyle audiences. Yeah, that's very powerful. Now, the campaign that you released about a week ago, it's an anthem campaign. Yes. Right? Has all the elements of that. Those are tough. They are. Because they have to transcend your products and services, but not be disconnected from them. Exactly. So that's a really, really hard balance. And I think you've knocked it out of the park with this one. So I want you to go back and think about that conversation or that meeting where you were first exposed to this idea that became the campaign that we all saw last week.

45:34What was your first reaction to it? Was it like seminal, like this is it? or was like, huh, there is something there. But when you first saw it, was it love at first sight or not? It was. It was the idea. We talked a lot about how are we going to set the world on notice that something different is happening. So that was the foundational. This is truly we started with the anthemic. It needs to be anthemic. But as you point out, it can't be so disconnected from our business, our products, our services and experiences, and all the work that is going to follow. Because a campaign is not an anthem.

46:14A campaign is going to have more assets that surround it in subsequent phases. So we had to make sure we weren't creating something that would essentially just be poetry and would serve a moment in time, and then scratched our heads and said, okay, now what is all the other work going to look like? So we had to think of it from that perspective. We had to think of it holistic. Is this the starting point for everything that will follow? So we had to be clear about what everything that follows would include. But we really leaned a lot on that lifestyle audiences because we wanted to make sure that those lifestyles were apparent in that work.

46:55We didn't need to say it. We didn't need to explain it. It needed to be self-evident. people needed to feel it. They needed to feel that something was different and they needed to feel like they could be part of that difference. So that's how we knew we had something with a great deal of potential. And if you, I know you've seen this, Bob, but if you look at it through that lens, you will probably start to see even more of those lifestyle audiences in that work.

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48:32You just went through, I think, how you evaluated that idea when you first saw it. But could you maybe talk about that some more? Because I think we make a lot of decisions in our life, right? That was a big one you made to green light this. So when you're looking at it, you sort of thought about the audiences, lifestyle audiences. You thought about the business strategy, I'm sure. But as you went through your mental checklist, when your agency and your team were chatting about this, what kind of things went through your mind? Well, we looked at it from the perspective of, does this feel authentically forward?

49:03We went through, as you can imagine, tone of voice. Does it have the gravity it needs as an anthem? Does it have the opportunity to showcase the customer as well as the vehicle and the role that the vehicle plays in that customer's lifestyle? That's a very delicate balance. I think we nailed it, but it needed to look like only Ford could credibly make that ad, that another OEM wouldn't have the right to speak to those audiences in the way that we were speaking to them. That's a good test, by the way, what you just said, for any company, any brand, can only we do this? Yes. It's a hard test. No, it is.

49:48It's a very hard When I wrote my first book, my agent said, as we sold the book to the publisher, you have to write the book only you can write. If it's a book someone else can write, then don't waste your time. And that was, I thought about that with every page. Am I sharing something that only I could write and share? And that's a wonderful evaluation criteria. We also went through a very detailed exercise, very strategic. I mentioned that it was important that all the work that followed was connected. So we looked at our capabilities, our core capabilities, our pillars in terms of community, trust, passion, capability, and the things that we wanted to highlight as reasons to believe, as proof points, because that would be the more detailed work that follows.

50:44and we actually did a mapping exercise. What are those reasons to believe and how can it map to this anthem? Does it map? Does it feel like it's living in the same universe? Does it feel authentic? Because this work cannot be disconnected. And that was a very detailed process. We had a matrix and we literally started filling it out and saying, does this work? We have to pressure test it. Luckily it did. Now it's great anthem campaigns, you know, have a deep resonance inside the company. Yes. And this one certainly has. What do you think it is about this campaign? Why do you think it's connecting?

51:26I think there are a couple of reasons. The first would be that people see it as authentically forward and we're not walking away from who we are. We're doubling down on who we are. So this is taking all of the goodness over 122 years and expressing it in a different way. So it felt new and familiar. And I had someone say that to me, and it's one of the highest compliments that I think I could get. The other thing is there's so much pride for Ford within the organization. Our employees, our dealers, second, third, fourth generations of family members who bleed Ford blue. And this is a tough time in the automotive industry.

52:15There's a lot that's changing and something upbeat and uplifting, optimistic, and showing what I think is Ford and Ford's customers on their best day ever. That's what we've basically highlighted in that anthem. And that's a real point of pride and why I think people get emotional about it. Well, congratulations on all of that. Thank you. It is absolutely marvelous. Now you talk about the three phases of this renewal. This is only phase one. We're so early in phase one. Could you talk a bit more about phase one, phase two, phase three, and what you're looking for in terms of success? So there are phases, and I would say there are phases to the global rollout as well as the work.

52:59So let me first start by saying that The United States was our first external expression. We're rolling out first, but we're rolling out globally in phases. Most of the regions around the world will have this in market by the end of this year. So it's not a long rollout. It's rather quick. Some will be first quarter of 2026 at the latest. The other phase will be the content itself. So for example, in the United States, we will have in October, the second phase, which are those assets that I mentioned, the reasons to believe. So more work coming out that I'm very excited about. And then the measurements.

53:40So the measurement metrics, like how we define success, how we're tracking success globally was really important. So my research team was a huge part of this process. How are we going to measure this? what is the from to state and how do we do it globally? And that is not an easy process. We also wanted to make sure we have leading indicators as well as lagging indicators, because when we're moving things like brand momentum scores or capability or consideration or shopping behavior, I said to them, I don't want to get to the end of the quarter, look at the metrics, see we're falling short, and only be able to influence that going forward.

54:27So that's very rear view mirror. With an initiative this big, I want the leading indicators that constantly are giving us feedback and saying, are we on the right track? So the measurement metrics, monitoring and course correcting, if necessary, that's a whole other piece of this as well that I think needs, I would advise anyone to pay equal attention to that. Now, for all those people who have been listening for the last 50 minutes to an hour and would love to do this in their company, on their brand, there was lots of advice you shared in the last hour. But if you could boil it down to one deep, profound lesson in how to do this as successfully as you have so far, what would that be?

55:10I would encourage them to define their why. So I'm a huge Simon Sinek fan and you know his golden circle. A lot of people, a lot of companies can tell you what they do and how they do it, but not many can tell you why. And I literally did that. I wrote it on an index card because every time I got frustrated and every time I thought this would never reach the finish line, I looked at that card. I said, nope. Okay. Rally. This is why you're doing this. Stay centered, stay focused. We'll get this to the end. But it was great to come back to that. It was my North Star going through the process. Last question, Lisa.

55:56This has been a drill, right? A wonderful drill. And you're in phase one. What are you doing to renew yourself? I mean, you're happy. You start off by saying that's your emotion. You also have to be a little bit tired. I am a little tight. So what do you do to keep your energy level, your freshness, your creativity in times of tremendous positive stress, which this is, but it's still stress. It's definitely stress. So for me, I love staying active, physically fit, working out, running, cycling. And I must admit that's fallen a little bit by the wayside. so I'm personally going to try to get back into a more consistent rhythm and maybe focus a little bit more on myself and my husband and I are planning a vacation so a little bit of time.

56:44Any thoughts on where you're going? Not quite yet so we're still in this. Activation? Peaceful vacation? We are we're kind of incapable of the of the vacations where we go where neither of us are good at. Yeah type A vacation. Yeah yeah so we're going to do things that we're going to fill the schedule, but that's fine because that's actually energizing to me. I don't mind that. So we're still kind of going back and forth on what that will be. But we do have some motorsports events to look forward to and Formula One races. We're both huge race fans. So that will be a nice little break and something to look forward to as well.

57:19Sounds great. Well, Lisa, thank you for this. I mean, congratulations to you, your team, to Ford. It's very, inspiring. I'm a Ford customer, right? I have a Mach 3 EUV. Thank you for that, by the way. Campaign really, I think, works on so many levels and especially emotionally, which I think is a huge brief for anyone to get it right emotionally and represent your company, I think is amazing. So well done. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And have a great weekend. We're on a Friday afternoon. It's sunny. It feels like summertime. Let's enjoy Detroit. Get out on the bicycle, maybe. I agree.

57:55Yes. That sounds great. I'm babysitting a three and a one-year-old this weekend. Oh, good luck. So yeah, I'll burn a lot of calories. Yeah. You're in that adventure lifestyle. Good luck with that. Yeah, sort of. Yeah. That was my conversation with Lisa Matarazzo. Three takeaways from this one. When you're thinking about a brand restage, three things to take away. The first one, start with your customers. Lisa talked about how this has been And a big shift to focus on three customer groups and everything Ford does will be about delighting and pleasing those three groups. They don't start with the vehicle.

58:30They start with the customer. The second takeaway to do a great brand relaunch is to work internal alignment. Lisa talked about how this had to be everybody's relaunch. Every single person in Ford had to believe in it, believe it was authentic, and believe that it would impact what they do every day. Not just the executive team. Everybody and every function had to be on board. That takes time, which leads me to the third takeaway, and that is patience. We are typically type A people when we're in marketing, but patience is critical when you're relaunching a brand like Ford. Lisa talked about how it was tough at times, but she leaned on that as a superpower.

59:05And without the patience she had at critical times in this brand relaunch, it never would have happened with the success it's had to date.

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