Ford reveals how it's rewriting its PR playbook as it shifts to making coronavirus medical supplies
- Ford has scrambled its PR, marketing, and advertising activities as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies.
- President Trump blasted the automaker for moving too slowly in making ventilators, and Ford workers have died after contracting the virus.
- Ford has been emphasizing internal communications as its thousands of employees transitioned to remote work and promoting its work making medical supplies.
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Ford Motor Co. is rewriting its PR playbook as it pivots from manufacturing cars to medical supplies.
The coronavirus pandemic scrambled Ford's long-term plans, forcing it to halt most normal PR, advertising and marketing activities, its chief communications officer Mark Truby said. Daily operations ground to a halt with 10 reported deaths of United Auto Worker members, including seven Ford employees, after contracting the virus, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The automaker's about-face started in mid-March when it postponed the anticipated launch of its off-road Bronco SUV. Ford, along with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, scaled back production.
Ford repurposed its March TV ad space to promote coronavirus-related financial relief efforts, joining other marketers in changing their advertising in response to the crisis. It's been promoting the work it's doing producing 50,000 ventilators, as well as respirators and face shields, with president and CEO Jim Hackett and chairman Bill Ford appearing on morning TV shows to promote the work. Hackett and Ford also touted the company's history of building iron lungs to fight polio and converting factories to wartime production during World War II.
Ford waved off criticism from President Trump
In late March, Trump lashed out at General Motors and Ford for not moving fast enough to make coronavirus medical supplies.
General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!! @GeneralMotors @Ford
That same day, Ford responded with a statement saying it's "pulling out all the stops" to meet the demand for the critical medical devices.
Truby shrugged off Trump's comments. "It's the president's prerogative to say move fast and to exhort us to move fast," he said. "Parenthetically, he didn't say anything critical about Ford. The only mention of Ford was essentially the call to move fast."
It's still TBD how Ford will be reimbursed for producing the medical equipment.
"We weren't going to wait for all that stuff to be buttoned because we didn't want to waste time," Truby said.
Ford has a checkered history with President Trump; in 2017, Ford nixed a factory in Mexico and added 700 jobs in Michigan following criticism by the president.
Ford is pushing internal communications
Ford has some 200,000 employees, and shutting down its 90 factories has made internal communications one of the Dearborn-based automaker's greatest challenges.
Ford has begun weekly town hall updates with Hackett and Ford, and the company said it's had about 25,000 to 30,000 people tuning into them. Truby said the company hoped to continue the town halls.
Ford postponed plans to restart production after UAW criticism
Ford and the United Auto Workers have a complicated history. Ford postponed plans to restart North American production as early as April 6 after receiving criticism from the UAW. A restart date hasn't been set.
Part of Ford's PR strategy is trying to appear on the same page as the union, praising it for letting workers volunteer at the factories to manufacture face shields, respirators, and ventilators.
But Brian Rothenberg, director of PR at the UAW, said the union pushed the carmakers to stop production and will ensure worker safety when plants reopen. He called the loss of life in the auto sector and across the economy "tragic."
"That is why the UAW has pushed for an abundance of caution regarding safety and procedures from the start, as well as letting the pandemic curve dictate a date to safely restart," Rothenberg said.
