For the past years, automotive industry has changed quickly, thanks to the insertion of new players, different changes in technology and consuming habits. For big automotive companies, adapting to a new paradigm represents great challenge. This is even more difficult in countries such as Argentina, where infrastructural limitations complicate the positioning of the brand as a leader figure in advanced technology.

Within this context, we had the responsibility to keep building Ford’s positioning as an innovative brand, despite limitation by Argentina’s market. Our main goal was to consolidate Ford as a company that not only sells vehicles, but makes people’s lives easier and more agile, through mobility solutions.

Directional Gloves are gloves that help bikers to move in a safe manner around the city, by allowing the use of GPS without impairing sight or hearing. Through a mobile App and via Bluetooth, these gloves are connected to the user’s smartphone in order to guide him by virtue of a signal vibration system that allows to keep the bikers’ eyes in the road.

Within the search framework for generating innovative solutions to improve mobility, we identified some information that allowed us to identify biking as a suitable territory to work on.

In 2020, because of the pandemic, the number of urban bikers increased 177% compared to 2019.

With the goal of relieving urban areas, 272 km of bikeways were constructed in Buenos Aires City.

The National Agency for Road Safety revealed that, for every 10 fatal victims in car crashes in 2021, 6 were bicycle and motorcycle users.

Bikers are an audience that interested us to get in contact with, so we could show them that Ford is a brand that thinks of mobility and making journeys safer. This is why the best way to show it was to work around one of the main causes for road accidents: cellphone use.

Under development, we tested different technologies that could allow us to connect the device to a map in a user-friendly interface. At present, the gloves are connected via Bluetooth in order to pair with the mobile device, and WiFi to connect between themselves, so a 3-part link can be generated.

Directional Gloves design is inspired by professional cyclists and it has very similar components. The main component for these gloves is neoprene. In specific areas, they are reinforced in order to provide comfort for hands, and Velcro adjustments. The vibration capsule design has been inspired by Ford vehicles’ front grill, and it has been made with extra light plastic -taking into account practicality and user comfort. This capsule has been built via 3D printing and it contains internal components and circuits.

The idea appeared in 2019 and during 2020 development took place where different ways of implementation were tested. Finally, in 2022 the first prototype was released. The idea for this is to keep evolving and that it ends up as a product available for any user.

In order to communicate this project, we used the brand’s platforms (Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn) and we amplified them through different mass media and press releases in order to generate awareness in a massive audience.

We communicated this launching in the context of Ford’s Innovation platform release event. This event was live streamed from Vorterix Studios, and was included in their regular schedule.

This event took such relevance that many different mass media, such as TN Tecno, Gente and El Cronista also transmitted it from their web pages. Other mass media, such as La Nación, Clarín, Infobae and FiloNews also wrote news stories about the event.