Photo: The Bronco Nation on YouTube
Before the mid-size Bronco and compact-size Bronco Sport were unveiled in the flesh, some people were skeptical about the Ford Motor Company’s approach to engaging the community and potential customers. More to the point, the Blue Oval hired a marketing firm - Jackson Dawson Communications – to keep the hype going.
First things first, this begs a question. Why did the Dearborn-based automaker pay hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of dollars to an outside company for marketing services? This question is even more interesting ‘cause the Blue Oval has its own marketing employees.
Ford sends The Bronco Nation – which is operated by Jackson Dawson Communications – materials that could be edited and marketed by the automaker’s own people. Whatever the reason for this collaboration may be, Bronco Nation has alienated its target audience with a bit of a blunder.
The good people from Bronco6G received a takedown notice from Jackson Dawson over Bronco Nation content posted on the forum over copyright infringement, which sounds legitimate at first glance. But the problem with this course of action is that Bronco6G has never appropriated the content by removing the watermarks from Bronco Nation-sourced pictures and clips.
Forum members and Bronco enthusiasts didn’t take it lightly. Pretty much all of them expressed their disapproval of the takedown notice, which is understandable in my honest opinion. Ford appears to have caught wind of this blunder, which is why Jackson Dawson had to raise the white flag.
The company explains that “an overzealous legal representative” sent the takedown notice “without their approval,” which sounds like a make-do excuse to my ears. The forum’s administrator was proposed “a reconciliatory approach moving forward,” and that’s how the drama came to an end.
On that note, here’s another question for you. Would this target audience-alienating fiasco ever have happened if the Ford Motor Company were directly in charge of marketing the all-new Bronco and Bronco Sport?
Ford sends The Bronco Nation – which is operated by Jackson Dawson Communications – materials that could be edited and marketed by the automaker’s own people. Whatever the reason for this collaboration may be, Bronco Nation has alienated its target audience with a bit of a blunder.
The good people from Bronco6G received a takedown notice from Jackson Dawson over Bronco Nation content posted on the forum over copyright infringement, which sounds legitimate at first glance. But the problem with this course of action is that Bronco6G has never appropriated the content by removing the watermarks from Bronco Nation-sourced pictures and clips.
Forum members and Bronco enthusiasts didn’t take it lightly. Pretty much all of them expressed their disapproval of the takedown notice, which is understandable in my honest opinion. Ford appears to have caught wind of this blunder, which is why Jackson Dawson had to raise the white flag.
The company explains that “an overzealous legal representative” sent the takedown notice “without their approval,” which sounds like a make-do excuse to my ears. The forum’s administrator was proposed “a reconciliatory approach moving forward,” and that’s how the drama came to an end.
On that note, here’s another question for you. Would this target audience-alienating fiasco ever have happened if the Ford Motor Company were directly in charge of marketing the all-new Bronco and Bronco Sport?
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