During Ford's two-year rebrand, moments where stakeholder alignment was lost were not failures. The CMO found these "regroups" were critical for strengthening the strategy, revealing where initial agreements were superficial or impractical and making the final plan more durable.
Related Insights
If everyone in the company instantly understands and agrees with your launch message, it might be too safe. A great launch reframes the market, which should provoke some initial internal skepticism. This indicates the message is bold enough to break through external noise.
To ensure their new brand strategy was practical, Ford required every department to articulate how they would activate it. This exercise revealed gaps and ensured the strategy would guide daily decisions on what to do and, crucially, what to stop doing.
Ford's CMO credits their rebrand's success to a two-year process of embedding the new strategy across all departments, from HR to product development. This ensured it was more than a marketing campaign by influencing core business operations and decision-making.
The CMO transitioned from a hands-on "doer" to a strategic leader not gradually, but through a pivotal team reorganization. This structural change reassigned ownership and forced him to empower his directors, shifting his own focus from execution to shaping and inquiring.
When presenting their rebrand strategy, Ford's CEO encouraged his team to transparently share challenges they hadn't yet solved. This demonstrated deep, critical thinking and built more confidence with the board than a perfectly polished presentation would have.
For Ford's CMO, the ultimate validation of their new brand strategy was an unsolicited call from the Head of Design. He announced he was restructuring his entire department around the brand's new "lifestyle audiences," proving the strategy was adopted at a core operational level.
When pitching a long-term strategic fix, regional leaders prioritized immediate revenue goals. The product team gained traction not by dismissing these concerns, but by acknowledging their validity. This respect builds the trust necessary to balance short-term needs with long-term investment.
By changing the lexicon from an adversarial "versus" to a complementary "generation and capture," Ally's marketing team created a shared language. This simple reframe aligns disparate functions toward a common goal, dissolving internal friction and fostering collaboration.
Instead of developing a strategy alone and presenting it as a finished product (the 'cave' method), foster co-creation in a disarming, collaborative environment (the 'campfire'). This makes the resulting document a mechanism for alignment, ensuring stakeholders feel ownership and are motivated to implement the plan.
Instead of forcing decisions in tense meetings, Ford's CMO would pause and then follow up with key stakeholders one-on-one. This allowed her to understand unique departmental challenges without group pressure, demonstrating humility and effectively resolving complex roadblocks.