Extremely impressive social media monitoring from Ford. Most companies are having problems just managing impressions of their brand today. You are managing impressions from 100 years ago! Chevy could learn a lot from you.

So my hats off to you, sir. And thanks for adding some context to the quote.

Your next blog post idea is something I’ve been noodling with as well, although actually I was thinking more about Steve Jobs and Apple. Your Henry Ford quote points to the fact that there is a fine line between listening to the customer and having the customer tell you what to do, between focusing on the marketplace’s true needs and what customers think they want at a point in time.

I think testing helps in this situation. You can’t just ask customers what they want, you must also measure their real-world actions.

You raise some great points here. We’re glad that Ford Motor Company has come a long way since Henry Ford’s time and that we’re committed to not only producing vehicles that are best-in-class in fuel economy, quality and safety, but we’re also working with our dealers on the importance of the customer experience.

A quick word about that oft-used quote of Henry’s, if I may. That quote only referred to a limited time in the Model T’s history. From 1908-1914, the Tin Lizzie was available in blue, red, green or gray.

It was only when he instituted the assembly line that he had to reduce the color choices – primarily because the black paint dried the fastest. You see, old Henry was trying to produce as many vehicles as he could in order to satisfy customer demand. So he really did have the customer in mind.

Now, if you want to do another post on the anti-crowdsourcing screed from one of his other quotes, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, I would have made a faster horse,” that might be a whole other topic.

Scott Monty
Global Digital Communications
Ford Motor Company