FOREWORD

“I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

—SENATOR LLOYD BENTSEN,
VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, OCTOBER 5, 1988

That stinging retort may be lost on recent generations, but for those of us who watched it live, it will forever remain as part of our collective memory. Essentially it has come to mean you’re a pretender to the throne.

When I was approached with the opportunity to lead Ford Motor Company’s social media efforts in late 2007, I was struck with the incredible opportunity and responsibility that holding such a position would entail. Having worked with large brands as a consultant and agency representative, I had a good sense of some of the challenges that were in store for me. But fundamentally, I knew that that there would be situations that could only be understood by someone on the other side of the client-agency relationship.

So I called Christopher Barger.

I had known Christopher for a few short years, having been part of an agency that supported IBM and witnessed IBM’s early foray into what has come to be known as “social media.” My most recent interaction with him was at an annual conference for the Society for New Communications Research, which he was visiting in his capacity as the director of social media for General Motors. My respect for him was (and still is) profound—a colleague who was tackling new forms of communications at two of the largest corporations in the world—and so I asked for his advice as I considered a role at an equally storied institution.

(This is an ongoing theme in social media—even though many of us may be trailblazers, we realize that the lone wolves don’t really fare that well. We absolutely rely on each other for coaching, encouragement, and guidance, even in competitive environments.)

I remember waiting for the reply to that e-mail in which I asked Christopher about the environment on the inside of a large company, what it was like to work within a matrixed team, what it took to convince him to move from New York to Michigan, etc. When the reply came, it was a long and thorough one that delved into many details, weighing the pros against the cons. That he responded at the height of the North American International Auto Show made it even more significant.

I still have that e-mail, and the main points are just as relevant and correct as ever:

1. Make sure senior communications leadership supports the direction you’re going to go—not just with lip service but with a true commitment to social media.

2. Make sure you’re reporting in to communications, not marketing.

3. Make sure that your management will understand that measurement is different in social media.

All very sensible points, but those that could only truly come from someone who had experience within a company rather than consulting for it.

Based on this very solid advice, I moved my family and my career to join the communications team at Ford to improve the company’s reputation and build purchase consideration via the ever-growing segment of social media. Some would say it’s been a success story.

Having a friend and colleague at a crosstown rival company has made the ride all the more interesting. Christopher and I managed to have fun with it, publicly play-fighting as “frenemies” but always sharing and reassuring each other behind the scenes. When he left General Motors, I was disappointed, relieved, and optimistic. Disappointed in that I didn’t have an equivalent there with whom I could have that back-channel relationship, relieved that a major talent was no longer with a competitor, and optimistic for Christopher and Voce Communications.

For you see, Voce now has a strategic asset—much like the one you’re holding in your hand. It has the benefit of the knowledge, passion, and leadership of someone who has actually done what it is it’s coaching its clients on. We are very fortunate that Christopher has turned his considerable talent to the written page and supplied us some strong elements to make social media work within a large organization.

And to those who would try to tell you they know how to help you do it despite a lack of experience themselves, I say:

I served with Christopher Barger, I knew Christopher Barger, Christopher Barger was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Christopher Barger.

SCOTT MONTY
GLOBAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
FORD MOTOR COMPANY