http://www.businessoffashion.com/2008/03/fashion-20-the-ford-channel.html The Business of Fashion is an essential daily resource for fashion creatives, business professionals and entrepreneurs in more than 200 countries around the world. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:48:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.businessoffashion.com/2008/03/fashion-20-the-ford-channel.html#comment-345 Yode Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:29:18 +0000 http://www.businessoffashion.net/2008/03/fashion-20-the-ford-channel.html#comment-345 After reading your post, and checking out the fordmodels.tv <http://fordmodels.tv> site, I just wonder if Ford's approach really represents the spirit of web 2.0 applications. The fordmodels.tv <http://fordmodels.tv> community is mired at 9000 or so members, and those models that have pages are not very active. That said, their video production and syndication efforts have definitely attracted attention, but to what end? Are these impressions monetized? Is the point to raise the profile of the modeling agency or the profile of the models? Because Ford makes money when models are booked, raising the profile of their brand does not necessarily correlate to increased revenue, though raising the models' profile does. This brings me to my final question: Ford uses only up and coming models in its "web 2.0" (and I use the term loosely) initiatives - This doesn't necessarily make sense...Net/Net this seems like a cool project without much of a strategy (and their surge in web traffic last year Oct-Nov, and subsequent return to "normal" would seem to bear this out). After reading your post, and checking out the fordmodels.tv site, I just wonder if Ford’s approach really represents the spirit of web 2.0 applications. The fordmodels.tv community is mired at 9000 or so members, and those models that have pages are not very active. That said, their video production and syndication efforts have definitely attracted attention, but to what end? Are these impressions monetized? Is the point to raise the profile of the modeling agency or the profile of the models? Because Ford makes money when models are booked, raising the profile of their brand does not necessarily correlate to increased revenue, though raising the models’ profile does. This brings me to my final question: Ford uses only up and coming models in its “web 2.0″ (and I use the term loosely) initiatives – This doesn’t necessarily make sense…Net/Net this seems like a cool project without much of a strategy (and their surge in web traffic last year Oct-Nov, and subsequent return to “normal” would seem to bear this out).

]]> http://www.businessoffashion.com/2008/03/fashion-20-the-ford-channel.html#comment-346 Vikram Alexei Kansara Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:33:29 +0000 http://www.businessoffashion.net/2008/03/fashion-20-the-ford-channel.html#comment-346 Thanks for the great post. And bravo to Ford Models for the bold move. It's a rather brilliant way to leverage models as influencers; create and retain rights to your own content; and ultimately reinvent the modeling agency. At least that's the theory. In practice, I think they need to be careful they don't undermine the core values that legitimize the venture in the first place: their brand heritage and a claim to authenticity. First and foremost, they need to take a close look at the advertisers they accept. Those interstitials for Outback need to go. Secondly, they need to insure the content feels real, remarkable, and free from obvious product pitches. They should arm their models with their own cameras and go for a feel that's more like the Stam and Coco Eminem video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ouJlR1kVH9o) and less like an infomercial. Question: are the models paid for the content they produce? Or are they being told it's good "promotional" material? Thanks for the great post. And bravo to Ford Models for the bold move. It’s a rather brilliant way to leverage models as influencers; create and retain rights to your own content; and ultimately reinvent the modeling agency. At least that’s the theory. In practice, I think they need to be careful they don’t undermine the core values that legitimize the venture in the first place: their brand heritage and a claim to authenticity. First and foremost, they need to take a close look at the advertisers they accept. Those interstitials for Outback need to go. Secondly, they need to insure the content feels real, remarkable, and free from obvious product pitches. They should arm their models with their own cameras and go for a feel that’s more like the Stam and Coco Eminem video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ouJlR1kVH9o) and less like an infomercial. Question: are the models paid for the content they produce? Or are they being told it’s good “promotional” material?

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