Go on a sunday ride with Granny !

You love trying new car models ? And you are available on sunday to take care of the elderly ?

Then just connect to the website « Sunday Drive.com » from the car manufacturer FORD. Once the town, the week-end and the car dealership chosen, you can pick up the old person, who is waiting for you to spend a good time, directly with the car lend to you by Ford. Enjoy your sunday drive !

A very interesting initiative to fight against the social isolation / exclusion of old people, currently estimated at 2 millions individuals in Spain. Tomorrow, will car dealers put in place other social activities to improve the social link between people (driving classes, sight tests, autonomous cars… ) ?

Who never wished to really try a product before buying it ?

This phenomenon grows a little bit more each year, in all sectors. From sports goods to interior design and appliances, stores now offer to the client the ability to really test and evaluate a product in real life.

For example, the store chain Boulanger deployed its concept called  « Le Comptoir ». A store where all the products are being contextualized and where the client can test them like they would do it at home.

Ford goes a little further with associating the “product testing” with a “socially responsible service useful for the community”.  Here, we try a car also to help someone. Such initiative could become the differenciation factor of the brand instead of focusing on the classic “open doors” days at car dealerships. The car dealerships become therefore a place where people want to spend time to meet and socialize, like a caffe.

Indeed, the service that FORD put in place, not only refer to the driver of consumption Socialization, but also to the exchange, sharing of competencies or intergenerational transmission. This is particularly interesting and we observe this trend in many new initiatives.

For instance, in India, the food company Fortune Foods connects mothers together so that a “substitution mother” can take care of the son who left home to study far away.

A similar initiative, already shown by Echangeur last year in its conference Innovate Service Centric with CNA Idiomas, the Brazilian language school network. Their program « Speaking Exchange », connects through Skype young students who wish to improve their english skills with old people in retired homes. One has a better level in english and the other one fights against loneliness : there is a double benefit, exactly like for Sunday Drive with Ford !