Ford invites blue collar customers, including contractor, inside Super Duty development process

Updated Jan 29, 2016
Ford F-350 Super Duty King Ranch Crew Cab 4×4Ford F-350 Super Duty King Ranch Crew Cab 4×4

Over the last few years, Ford’s marketing department has worked really hard to make its F-Series pickups synonymous with blue collar work.

It was evident in the first commercial for the 2015 F-150, which had the difficult task of introducing a new aluminum body to the automaker’s lineup. And since then Ford has surprised construction crews with F-150 back massages, created a F-750 Tonka dump truck and used a crane to test the strength of the new Super Duty frame.

Ford’s five blue collar customers inspect a Super Duty frame at its Dearborn Truck Plant.Ford’s five blue collar customers inspect a Super Duty frame at its Dearborn Truck Plant.

And now the automaker says it is including a group of blue collar workers in the ongoing development of its Super Duty pickups.

As part of a new six-part video series titled “We Own Work,” Ford has invited customers from construction; manufacturing; electric, gas and sanitation; and oil and gas extraction to witness Super Duty torture testing and share their feedback.

Representing the construction industry is Jack Mills, the owner of Plum Contracting in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The series will be shared on YouTube and will give a little background on each customer and explore how they use their Super Duty pickups.

“Every day these customers work hard and rely on our trucks. They know better than anyone what it takes to get the job done and how Super Duty can make that happen,” said Craig Schmatz, Ford’s F-Series Super Duty chief engineer in a statement.

In the announcement, Ford also shared some interesting figures which go pretty far in explaining their interest in attracting these groups of workers and hearing their feedback.

The automaker claims among the five industries from which it invited customers to take part in the “We Own Work” video series, its trucks represent no fewer than 42 percent of all workers.

  • 58 percent of electric, gas and sanitation workers use Super Duty trucks
  • 50 percent of forestry workers use Super Duty trucks
  • 50 percent of oil and gas extraction workers use Super Duty trucks
  • 48 percent of heavy construction workers use Super Duty trucks
  • 42 percent of manufacturing workers use Super Duty trucks

Who knows how much input these folks will actually be able to give, but it’s certainly interesting to see Ford acquaint itself with the trades in a personal way.