I sympathize with Air New Zealand on this. At Ford, we're finding that talent are more aware and protective of web rights than they used to be. Our very successful "Focus Doug" videos had to be pulled down after a year because our team only had the budget for a year's worth of rights. It wasn't the case of being shortsighted, but of the costs of doing business with increasingly web-savvy talent.

Bonus content from SNL! http://www.hulu.com/watch/426627

And to think I knew you when. Very proud of your accomplishments and looking forward to your continued success, my friend.

Fascinating analogy, David. You could go back another 52 years or so and tap Sherlock Holmes for the same concept. Really, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's initial short stories and later the chapter-by-chapter release Hound of the Baskervilles in the Strand Magazine are what started the genre of serializations. When Holmes said, "Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last," he may just as well have been referring to brands.

@JorgXMcKie: I live in Southeast Michigan, having moved there 3.5 years ago, after spending 20 years in Boston. The city has pretty much gotten to that low point right now and is looking for ways to transform. It won't be easy, but there are more drastic measures (like the razing of vacant buildings to turn them into green spaces, farmland or parks) that are definite part of the process. @Joe R.: Lemonade: Detroit is meant to represent the people and the stories of positive action that are coming out of Detroit, rather than constantly focusing on the negative, which is what the rest of the country seems to prefer to do. It's not meant to be an expose on the social, economic and political mess - just as the original Lemonade movie was not meant to be a look a the growing numbers of unemployed, but rather to shine a light on those who were making something of their situation.

Wow. The usual stereotype at work, just like the U.S. automakers-related post earlier this week. Ruin porn and hopelessness. How about this for a change: two more for Detroit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-proulx/detropia-made-for-festiva_b_1233888.html http://www.lemonadedetroit.com

Seems like a return to 2009's Trust Barometer. Over time, this should make for an interesting analysis of the cyclical nature (or not) of trust.

Matt, congratulations on the news! Not sure when this announcement was made, as there's no date on your post, but hopefully I'm not too late to the party. Best wishes for success with W-S.

I remember that original post. Was it just 5 years ago? It's amazing it took Google this long to catch up with you. :)

Mike, Congratulations on the new position. We're really looking forward to having you on the Communications team here at Ford. Your passion and knowledge for the product are second to none, which will make your job here that much easier. I know your community here will miss you, but it's a testament to the great brand that you've built for PickupTrucks.com.

Jon, this is a great list. Thanks for pulling together some important insights and packaging them in an easy to comprehend way. There's quite a bit coming out of the firehose right now and this helps put it into perspective. Of course, with Google's announcement tonight that they're disabling business accounts and encouraging them to wait until later in the year, this puts the urgency of this post on hold for a bit. I still think it will hold up in the long run. Looking forward to seeing what we can do with video. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company

Peter, thank you so much for coming to the event! I'm glad you got an opportunity to see what Ford is up to. For your reference, we also have a Flickr set of the event that you can find here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fordmotorcompany/sets/72157626896443783/ Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company

John, thank you for taking the time to take a deeper look into The Ford Story. It's a site that has quite a heritage, having its inception and launch over Thanksgiving weekend in 2008 and serving as a vital cog in our distinction from our crosstown rivals. Over time it has gradually developed into the site that you see today. We built the site on Wordpress, to afford us the greatest degree of flexibility and speed to development. In addition, it served the need to eventually turn it from a message-driven site into the blog that it is today, with comments, sharing tools, the ability to attract and aggregate consumer generated content, and a regular cadence of updates on our progress. And even though our one staff writer doesn't have a byline, it is a site that's written primarily by a single person; the additional content you'll find there is contributed by our fans ('Your Stories') and via the blogs we've linked to. This section is a little outdated and doesn't fully reflect everything we've done. It's supposed to showcase the external posts of bloggers we've invited to Ford events and loaned media vehicles to for review purposes. The goal is to see what other real consumers are saying about our vehicles and our company. And while we don't (yet) have employees blogging, we do feature regular opportunities to engage with them - everyone from engineers to brand managers to C-level executives - via live chats on the site: http://www.thefordstory.com/archive/?tags=live%20chat Our goal is to continue to grow that by finding some gems of stories buried within the company and having those individuals share them with our readers. While the site serves our needs fairly well at the moment, we're always looking to improve it. We certainly have some ideas of our own, but your commentary helps us fine tune it a bit. We appreciate the thought and attention that went into your analysis and encourage you to remain connected with The Ford Story as we continue to evolve it. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company

The medium is not the message - the messenger is. As such, none of us is #winning in this scenario.

We're so glad we invited all of you! Not only were we proud to share the story of Ford's continued progress and innovation with you, but you made it one of the most talked about and fun press events that we've done at Ford in some time. I hope that this is something that we can continue. I'd be remiss if I didn't point this out: it was Edsel's grandfather Edsel, who commissioned the murals. Edsel Sr. and his wife Eleanor were great patrons of the arts, and played a major role in the Detroit Institute of Art. Best, Scott

What's all this BMW dealership talk? ;-) The other thing that remains to be seen is how consumers will take the sponsored/paid promotion of their activities without express permission from brands - even though they've consented to it by virtue of taking the action in the first place.

And now the #1 Google result for 'big house outside of Boston' is this blog post. Well done, David!

Congratulations, David. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy (or firm). Here's hoping our paths cross more in 2011 - but with fewer kisses. ;-)

As you said David, these credit programs are quite different than the emergency taxpayer assistance/TARP provided to other automakers. These two programs addressed systemic failure in the credit markets and were used by a wide array of companies. And Ford Credit reported its participation in public SEC filings and during conference calls with investors and media. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company

The "so-called" adjective pops up everywhere in the mainstream press - and it's a little difficult to discern whether it's used to call out a term that is gaining in common usage or for a term that the reporter or publication may not necessarily agree with. Either way, I find it a little annoying. Yet, I find that I'm guilty of it myself. When I looked for a post I did on mommy bloggers, I discovered (to my horror) that I used the term: http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/05/oh-mama.html . But the point of my post was that mommy bloggers need to be treated as individuals, not as this mass marketing target that's homogeneous.

The journey is an adventure, that's for certain. I'm amazed by what I learn every day from my community - people that provide me with different perspectives, insights or knowledge - and how they make me think harder. It's truly fascinating to be surrounded by other people in this space.

Susan's suggestion of linking to the original post is certainly a solid one. Also, I don't know if you're aware of cmp.ly - a very cool service at http://cmp.ly with different levels of association, to help people clearly understand why you're saying what you're saying. If used consistently over time, it could become pretty prevalent. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company http://thefordstory.com

I think you were the inspiration for Cracked.com's An Open Letter to American Express http://www.cracked.com/blog/an-open-letter-to-american-express/

Rich, thanks for taking the time to highlight what we're doing at Ford. Lots of great progress so far, but there's still much to be done. While we don't have a specific site for all engineers (after all, that are so many different kinds of engineers), I can tell you that they're engaging in the Owner forum of http://www.syncmyride.com. In addition to that, we've got subject matter experts from around the company who are responding to comments on The Ford Story at http://www.thefordstory.com We'll continue to evolve this activity over time; I apologize in advance if I don't make it back here. I comment on many, many sites. Be sure to stay in touch. Oh, by the way, those were white bucks I was wearing. ;-) Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company http://thefordstory.com --------------------------- No problem ... Scott ... thanks for the comment and links. Your legend lives on as I did not que you into this blog post, but you found it and commented. However, that does not surprise me. Rich (the Northstar Nerd)

Shel, thanks for taking the time to follow up on this. When I told you that Ford was going to support the decision of the Obama administration and you said you'd create a post about it, I didn't think you'd follow through. I can clearly see that you're a man of your word. Regarding the tussle we had - it was more about Ford's position regarding the prospect (then) of about 14 different states simultaneously enacting their own standards. *That* we objected to. We believe that a single standard is enough, and we're happy to meet the one put in place by California. We're also happy with this endorsement. Since Bill Ford has been in a senior leadership position at the company, Ford Motor Company's commitment to green issues has been more central to our business processes. While many companies can be accused of greenwashing, Ford's commitment is the real deal - and it goes back to our roots, as Henry Ford was committed to sustainability. Any time you'd like to come to Ford and talk frankly with our sustainability team and share your enthusiasm with them, you're more than welcome. Thanks again for this nice follow up, Shel. Scott Monty Global Digital Communications Ford Motor Company @ScottMonty