I'm very excited about tomorrow. We're trying something a little different at Ford for our 2009 Model Year media day. I've only been on the new job for three weeks, so this isn't necessarily the most robust program, but I'm proud to say that we're including a number of bloggers.My belief is that bloggers - the new influencers - should be treated just like media, as they're publishers, they've got communities that care about what they think, and most of all, they're real people with real opinions. I wanted them to be able to get the inside scoop that traditional journalists are privy to.
In this case, I asked our team at Social Media Group to look beyond the usual suspects of auto bloggers (mostly because the big auto bloggers are already part of our media relations program) and to look for lifestyles - people interested in technology, environmental issues, family and luxury. We also invited some smaller auto bloggers and a few local new media types as well. Here's the rundown:
- Josh Lewis from Raw Autos
- Erin Kotecki Vest from Queen of Spain
- Kathy Helmtag from Car Domain
- Chad from iChad
- Tom Ajello from Internet, Cool?
- David Pitlyuk
- Melanie Notkin from SavvyAuntie
- Kristen Nicole from Mashable
- Aaron Brazell from Technosailor
- Ariel Schwartz from gas 2.0
- Jane Porricelli from Mom Generations
- Yvonne DiVita from Lipsticking
- Ken Burbary from Web Business
While this is by no means the extent of what I'd eventually like to see as far as a blogger outreach effort, it's a great start. I hope that everyone will enjoy themselves, learn a little bit about some of the very exciting things going on inside Ford (as shown in the video below), and have a blast out on the track.