FORD CCO, Mark Truby on 21st-Century Brand Storytelling

Mark Truby is chief communications officer at the Ford Motor Company where he leads all global communications and public relations activities. This includes building the company’s reputation globally and helping to lead communications that reach Ford’s external and internal audiences, including customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, news media, communities, governments, and policymakers. He reports directly to  Ford CEO Jim Farley.

Mark is also the proud father of 3 boys and was named to the 2022 PRWeek Power List.

Prior to joining Ford, Mark was an award-winning reporter and editor at The Detroit News, which is a big part of Mark's executive origin story. Mark's journalism background gave him a much more story-centric approach to comms, which is evident in a lot of Ford's marketing. 

Mark dives deep into this, his career history, and tells us a great story about the months-long process of getting to President Joe Biden to drive the Ford F-150 at a recent launch. Without further ado, here is Ford CCO Mark Truby in conversation with Lippe Taylor CEO Paul Dyer. 

Here are some key takeaways from this conversation with Mark. 

1. Learn journalism. Many comms leaders have stated that journalism is the most useful form of writing to learn. As a form, it teaches conciseness and the inverse pyramid concept of stating the facts up front and then expanding as you move forward, which structurally applies to just about anything. In Mark's case, his journalism background was the foundation that he built his comms career on because he not only learned all about Ford but understood journalists and how to reach them because he was one himself. This proved to be a fruitful point of leverage in his PR career because, overall, being a journalist taught Mark to always look for the story, which is what editors are always trying to uncover in every article and every pitch. More on this in the next point. 

2. Make art, not ads. A lot of Ford's approach to marketing under Mark's leadership has been very story-centric and leaned more into entertainment than marketing. Ford launched a fascinating podcast series all about what happened to the Bronco, a long and elaborate story that could only be told on a long-form medium like podcasting. Ford also put out multiple documentaries, none of which felt like advertising but worked beautifully as engaging stories that elegantly showcased the brand. The benefit of creating this kind of content is that it never goes away - unlike news cycles, the documentaries and podcasts keep streaming and remain indelible. 

3. Connect the past with the future.  A big challenge for heritage brands is leveraging their legacy while remaining relevant. In Mark's case, he's well aware that Ford will never seem as new and cutting-edge as Tesla, and that's ok - Tesla will never have the 100+ year history that Ford has. In bridging the gap between your brand's legacy and relevance, Mark says it's a matter of connecting the past with the future, embracing where your brand has been but, most importantly, articulating where it's going in a concise narrative.  

Thanks for listening! To learn more about our agency, visit us at www.lippetaylor.com. 

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Produced by Simpler Media