Ford has been putting "real people" in many of its ads for a while now, including the "Swap Your Ride" subjects hobnobbing with Mike Rowe and the actual Ford owners who were peppered with questions by fake reporters in the brand's controversial staged press conference stunt.

Now positioning their own workers as real people, the brand's marketers are now putting put actual Ford employees into ads promoting the 2013 Ford Escape crossover-utility vehicle. The campaign aims to show how Ford's people are demonstrating their internal drive to "Go Further," the tagline centerpiece of Ford's new global brand positioning. Ford also is launching a new web-only video comedy series behind the nameplate as well.

"We don't have a blanket strategy now to always do real people in ads, but in a lot of cases we're finding it does work," Scott Kelly, Ford's communications manager, told brandchannel. "We look at it campaign by campaign. Where it does work, it's all about being as authentic as possible."Continue reading...

We've noted how McDonald's, as one of the TOP sponsors of the London 2012 Olympics, is promoting its new lower-calorie menu and Team USA contest in the US, and encouraging kids (and adults) in the UK to get active and check out its revamped Happy Meal, among other local marketing efforts ahead of the games.

The company brought its top executives to London for the Games opening last week, where the big message was "McDonald's Takes Olympic Stage to Announce Advances in Children's Well-Being, Menu Innovation and Access to Nutrition Information."

Now the Summer Games have started, the fast-food giant is rolling out digital and social content that aims to "match the fun, competitive spirit of the Olympics," according to a spokesperson.Continue reading...

Intel has built a new social publishing platform called “iQ” that leverages the social actions of their global employees and curates content that is capturing Intel’s collective attention, much as it's been doing externally with such consumer-facing social digital projects as The Museum of Me Facebook integration.

According to Bryan Rhoads, iQ Editor-in-Chief, “Our modern world is the product of Moore’s Law. Every piece of technology we own or online service we consume has Gordon Moore’s 1965 law as a common denominator (Moore's Law = # of transistors doubling in microchips about every two years). It’s the innovative spark that created new industries, spawned new forms of communications and revolutionized the global economy.” 

Rhoads highlights the iQ approach:Continue reading...

Google’s “Legalise Love” campaign isn’t about gay marriage, as some media outlets have reported. It’s not "just" about supporting Gay Pride events, although it launched on July 7th at World Pride in London. It's really about supporting members of the LGBT community in countries that criminalize homosexuality, and using the brand's clout to lobby for change and open minds on gay rights.

The global initiative launched with Ernst & Young and Citigroup participating on behalf of their LGBT employees. "'Legalize Love' is a campaign to promote safer conditions for gay and lesbian people inside and outside the office in countries with anti-gay laws on the books," said a Google spokesperson in a statement to the Washington Post. The spokesperson elaborated:Continue reading...

It turns out Walmart and Tom Cruise have something in common. They both turned 50 this week. And the odd pairing share something else: Both quinquagenarians have set a lot of tongues wagging.

Cruise, of course, set the gossip world aflame in the summer heat for the announced split with his wife of five and a half years, Katie Holmes. Walmart, on the other hand, had a problem that affected a lot more people: some very unhappy folks who want the retailing powerhouse to treat their workers better and be more considerate to small businesses and not steamroll into new neighborhoods.Continue reading...

Ford may be trying to keep its brand name and logo on the downlow in its "Go Further" TV campaign, but it's hard to hide the enthusiasm around company headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., these days as the U.S. auto recovery picks up speed — and so does Ford.

That may be why CEO Alan Mulally was ebullient at Ford's annual general meeting in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday. "We are no longer turning around," Mulally told shareholders. "We are moving ahead."

The company hasn't yet gotten its iconic Blue Oval out of hock, but additional ratings-agency bumps of Ford bonds are expected to move that moment closer, as Ford seeks to regain control of one of the major assets it pledged as collateral in its private-borrowing spree before the Great Recession.Continue reading...

In the wake of Brian Dunn's scandal-ridden resignation last week, Best Buy's interim CEO, Mike Mikan, addresses the company's 270,000 employees in a video, above, that reiterates its strategic repositioning announced in late March, in addition to emphasizing his "passion and commitment (to) defining the next generation of Best Buy."

In a closely watched case that could impact employees' use of social media, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the Stop & Shop grocery chain's social media policy is "impermissibly vague, overbroad and violated Section 7 rights of employees" that protects the right to organize and bargain.

The Union represents 5,500 Stop & Shop employees at 45 stores in and around New York City. The petition alleges that Stop & Shop enacted the social media policy without consulting the union, a violation of collective bargaining rights, while forbidding employees from disclosing confidential information (such as salaries) on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The policy also prohibits employees from discrediting the store's practices or products on their personal social media posts. Furthermore, according to legal counsel for the Union, Patricia McConnell of Meyer Suozzi English & Klein, the policy requires employees to report colleagues’ violations whereby workers face disciplinary action — up to and including termination.Continue reading...