*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).
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi are dropping their talks on business integration.
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
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