Ford Bold Moves Site Intolerably Slow

It looks like Ford is doing a pretty good job of linking out to bloggers and other folks who are writing about them and the Bold Moves campaign. What I really can't tell is who is behind some of the blog entries there. I've been trying to check on this since last week, an effort that's been hampered by an intolerably slow FordBoldMoves.com site that often times out or fails to serve up certain elements of the site. When I have managed to get through, it seems as if there's some nice commentary within the "Community Buzz" section of the site. My problem with it is that I don't know who's responsible for it. It doesn't appear as if Ford has identified the folks blogging within that section of the site. While the posts here seem written in something other than corporate-speak, the authenticity that might bring is offset somewhat by the fact that there's nothing identifying who is putting the content together. Is it somebody (or a group of somebodies) within Ford? At their ad agency? Another party entirely?

To me, the best blogs are written by real people who don't mind throwing their name (or a pseudonym) and a way to contact them (e-mail, Skype, whatever) out there. This approach brings some accountability to the situation, as well as some humanity.

I won't say that Ford has blown it here. Rather, I think they've made a huge step forward. Other marketers should follow in their footsteps. But I do think they could be doing a much better job if they identified their bloggers so that people could see how serious they are about changing their marketing dynamic from top-down to bottom-up.

That, plus they should get a better web host.