The Agile Approach to PR

Ford Motor Co’s Dan Barbossa talks to MSU #PR students on the automaker’s agile PR approach for the launch of the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Ford Motor Co. adopted agile teams across the organization in recent years, and the approach reaches beyond the assembly line to influence the automaker’s marketing and public relations teams.

Ford’s Dan Barbossa, an Emmy-winning news producer who now manages broadcast and consumer comms for the automaker, joined my #MSU #PR class Wednesday to discuss how agile methodologies are being adopted by the comms and marketing teams.

The #agile concept springs from software development and the intent is to create smaller and more empowered teams with little interference from management. Ford has an excellent proof point the concept works across manufacturing: Ford shaved two years off the development of its Maverick hybrid pick-up truck, priced less than $25,000, and enjoying a long list of waiting buyers.

For #pr, “#agile leads to better stories and many different ideas,” Barbossa told the students. “It has become our blueprint for moving forward.”

He discussed how the approach was used to introduce the Ford F-150 Lightning, the electric version of the automaker’s flagship truck.

“We started with a challenge: How do we ensure the consumer launch of the F-150 Lightning is recognized by all Americans as the moment the country finally embraced electric vehicles,” he said. “We wanted the public to realize we are at the tipping point for e-vehicles.”

Using a small team empowered to create as much buzz as possible, Ford held a month-long series of typical and atypical moments – “a drumbeat of news,” Barbossa said – starting with the 2022 New York auto show (April 12, 13), the Lighting’s first public showing.

The following week, starting on April 24, the Lighting went on tour. “We wanted to own the news cycle that week,” Barbossa noted. Atypical events that week included:

·        April 24: A Silent Disco at the Smithsonian Futures event in D.C.

·        April 26: An employee celebration – Lighting Strikes – at Ford’s River Rouge auto plant, a historic landmark built by Henry Ford.

·        April 27: First quarter earnings announcement.

·        April 28: Ford rings the closing bell on Wall Street

·        April 30: Chauffeured drives for media attending the White House Correspondents Dinner. Tweets followed, including from media heavyweights like NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

 “We created the buzz we wanted, and it led to 200,000 pre-orders,” for the electric truck, Barbossa said. “A very successful program.”

Those are big results from a small team.