Case Study: Ford Pursues Co-Creation With An Ideation Site

Earlier this year, Ford launched a social co-creation site called "Your Ideas," which is an offshoot of its "The Ford Story" site designed to engage Ford enthusiasts. At Your Ideas, customers are encouraged to share their new ideas and concepts about how to improve Ford products and experiences, and nearly 3,000 ideas have been submitted to date. Participants vote for and comment on ideas, selecting the ideas that address unmet consumer needs. Ford vets the best co-created ideas using an internal evaluation method and a group of cross-discipline Ford employee volunteers. Approved ideas can be sent for further market research or move quickly to a group of experts for evaluation and, possibly, implementation. Consumer product strategy (CPS) professionals should create a platform to engage with their own willing co-creators. However, CPS professionals must recognize that there are limits to the benefits such a site can deliver and must develop an internal process for using the co-created ideas.