Transcript:

Sheryl Connelly is Ford's manager of global consumer trends and futuring. While she works for the auto giant. Her job has little to do with cars. She looks for trends that will influence our lives. In 2013, Fast Company named her one of the most creative people in business. Sheryl Connelly, welcome.

>> Thank you.

>> Welcome.

>> Good to be here.

>> So tell us the future.

>> So the future looks very bright from where we're sitting, but what we do within Ford is that we always have to look to the horizon. It takes us about three years to bring a vehicle to market.

>> Right.

>> So we have to figure out ways to anticipate what consumers are going to want long before they even know.

>> You've been called the car clairvoyant, a soothsayer, a walking TED Talk. What do you do, and how do you do it? And why does a company like Ford want someone and need someone like you?

>> So Henry Ford once said if I'd asked people what they wanted, they would've said faster horses and that dilemma still exists. I mean when we think about --

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> What could I do to make your life easier three years, five years from now? Most people will say I don't know what's going to make my life easier five weeks from now. I for one don't know five days from now.

>> Yeah.

>> And so what we do is we can't predict the future but we look to trends. And we think those trends can give us insight about what consumers are going to want --

>> And so what are the trends?

>> The values. Well, we put together a collection for 2015. It's the third year that we've actually given people a glimpse of our innovation process. And so we have ten trends that we think are going to shape 2015/2016.

>> One of the biggest trends, use a make way for Gen Z. Who is Gen Z?

>> Yeah.

>> So everybody knows about the baby boomers and the millennials. Gen Z will follow the millennials. And they're not fully formed because they haven't hit their teens or their 20s, but it's never too soon to start paying attention to them because there are over 2 billion Gen Zs worldwide.

>> But Gen Zs aren't car buying types.

>> No, they're 21 and under but they will be. And they are the future. You know, and they set [inaudible] not just for themselves but as a society as a whole because if you have kids, you already know they have a really strong voice.

>> But even millennials aren't buying as many cars right now or driving is much so what does that mean for a car company?

>> So, indeed, millennials do drive a little less. And they don't look at the cars [inaudible] status symbol that baby boomers once did, but they do look for lifestyle accessories. And when millennials buy cars, they buy Fords and partly because our strategy in terms of democratizing technology, allowing you to connect your cell phone through things like Sync. Yesterday, we announced the third edition or Sync three which will act like a smart phone, but it'll be voice activated so you can access your apps while behind the wheel.

>> Now is all of this about trying to figure out what Ford can do to change and meet the market or does it have some greater value?

>> You know, it's really about trying to understand consumer, society. And once you start to dig deep into a trend, you start to recognize that politics, the economics, environment, technology, they all are intertwined together and so that when you pull on one string, the entire fabric changes. And what we use this information for is to better prepare ourselves, to make sure our strategies are robust.

>> Let's talk about health because a new study out this week says more than 1/3 of Americans are obese. How do car companies adjust to that?

>> Well, we first have to kind of understand the nature of why that change is happening. And so you have the quality of food in terms of nutrition, even in emerging markets are so poor. And you have an influx of technology that's leading to a more sedentary lifestyle.

>> And how does that affect how Ford uses that information to look into the future?

>> Well, first we have the physical form. So we have to think design, about how will that change the way -- the ergonomics of the vehicle. But we also want to try to find ways to enable it. So we have things like a heart monitor chair that we have in development that can help --

>> Really?

>> Test your -- the quality of your health when you're in your vehicle.

>> How powerful is the aging population?

>> Oh, the aging population is probably the single most important challenge that the world will face both from a social and economic standpoint. You know, scientists say the first person to live to be 150 years of age has already been born.

>> Born, right.

>> And so if you're a car company, you have to ask yourself if people are going to surrender their car keys at 83 thinking they'll live to be 85, what will happen if they think they're going to live to be 105? So our challenge is to enable the freedom, the autonomy, and independence that comes from owning and operating your own vehicle.

 

Question

 

More and more consumers are living healthier lifestyles and purchase products that reflect the way they decide to live their lives. Ford's heart monitor chair may influence a consumer concerned about their health to buy a Ford. Their purchase would be influenced by _______. a. economic factors b. political and legal factors c. demographic factors d. social factors

 

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) are U.S. federal regulations specifying construction, performance, and durability requirements for motor vehicles. Ford's adherence to these standards is an example of _______.

a. economic factors

b. political and legal factors

c. demographic factors

d. social factors