Ford’s hourly workforce has kept the company running through the pandemic, chip shortage and other major challenges. The workers at Ford plants are a critical part of the work, as they not only are on the line building Ford’s iconic products every day, but they are the heart and soul of the company. As CEO, Jim Farley has taken great care and pride in the work done by the hourly workforce, and has made it his mission to look after those on the plant floor, and ultimately create honest dialogue about real issues they are facing.
We developed an ongoing video series for Ford CEO Jim Farley called “From the Floor” to champion Ford’s hourly workforce. Each video highlights an hourly employee at a different global Ford manufacturing plant and features Jim Farley meeting with the employee at their plant talking about what they work on and getting to know them. The videos also follow a day in the life of the employee. During these visits, Farley is learning about the people behind the making of these vehicles all across the country, and are the heart of the Ford brand.
With this video series, our team wanted to highlight the importance of Farley’s mission to go and see, while elevating the human stories of Ford’s plant workers. Rather than sitting in his office, by going to the places where Ford vehicles and products are created and used, Farley can gain a better understanding of how to transform Ford to a digital and electric future, how best to serve Ford customers, and meet and understand the employees who are behind the continuation of Ford’s legacy of vehicles.
Farley has visited and met employees at plants across the United States and globally in Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Turkey, and Romania.
We identified employees with compelling stories at each plant and showed through the series how these workers inspire others. Many employees have multiple generations who have worked at or are currently working at Ford, including a worker at Cleveland Engine plant whose father and mother worked at the same plant, and now has a daughter who also works there. Many stories also focused on a worker who has been at Livonia Truck Plant for 27 years and shows his love of the Ford brand by taking up drawing, specifically vehicles, in his time outside of the plant.
Farley’s own grandfather was an early employee at Ford Highland Park in 1918 as employee #389. This personal connection drives his appreciation for learning about the people who build and assemble customers’ vehicles – the heart of the company.
This series allowed us to tell the Ford story through human experiences. It recognizes Ford’s hourly workforce and highlights their dedication to Ford’s commitment to quality and excellence.
The From the Floor series has garnered nearly 1M video views across social media channels and has also been shared on Ford brand social media channels, in Ford plants, on internal Ford channels, through the Ford Dealer network, and executive social channels. Through these multiple channels, we were able to reach a wide audience, including Ford’s 180,000 global employees and 3,000 U.S. Ford and Lincoln dealers, who employ 170,000 people in communities across the country and 10,000 global dealers. The stories shared in these videos have been featured in Ford’s internal Global Town Halls, as well as Farley’s annual stakeholder letter. Reactions to this series have been overwhelmingly positive.
The human-centric approach Civic has taken for the From the Floor series was so compelling that we evolved From the Floor and created two new series for Farley about Ford’s products and motorsports business - “From the Truck” and “From the Track” - that take the same human-centric approach to telling stories about Ford’s iconic vehicles, their greater presence in motorsports, and Ford’s strategy as a powerhouse of product creation.
