Ready Set Give: Ford’s New Thanksgiving Parade Float Honors Our Commitment to Community

This Thanksgiving, Ford is debuting a new parade float titled “Ready Set Give.” The new float honors a spirit of gratitude, togetherness, and our commitment to the people and places we call home.

Coming off the successful launch of our global brand strategy and brand campaign, Ford Philanthropy and Ford Marketing worked together to bring those themes to life for lifestyle audiences, all through the lens of our new parade float. The new float was designed in three distinct float sections showcasing "Build, Thrill, and Adventure," each creatively woven into the ways Ford and our dealers give back to communities.

First displayed during the official grand opening of the company’s new world headquarters on Nov. 16, the float will appear in America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit on Thanksgiving morning.  

“The three sections showcase Build, Thrill, and Adventure, but the float creatively weaves in the ways Ford and its dealers give back,” said Markus Hutchins, Ford global brand senior director. “It’s about togetherness and giving. The idea of Ready Set Give really made a lot of sense.”

• Trailer 1 features a Ford F-150 and is a tribute to Ford’s commitment to supporting communities. The model includes volunteers hauling food donations, a nod to the Building Together initiative that brings all of Ford’s resources together to help nonprofits. Ford employees and dealers who volunteer proudly represent the Ford Volunteer Corp, founded by Bill Ford 20 years ago to make an impact in the neighborhoods where we live and work.
• Trailer 2 shows a Mustang GT3 to capture the excitement of pushing limits and breaking barriers on the racetrack. Unsung champions of the track who are featured on the float include pit crew members and auto technicians. Each year Ford and Ford dealers support more than 800 students across the country with resources to cover the cost of tools, credentials, and transportation to help as they pursue their career as an auto technician.  
• Trailer 3 captures off-roading with a Bronco, a nod to the Proud to Honor initiative featuring Ford employees who are veterans, served in the military, and lead our VETNG ERG group. Riding on the float will be Luis Perez and Jerry Kaminski, two Ford employees who are veterans and members of Ford's VETNG ERG.

Construction of the float was expedited after Ford launched “Ready Set Ford” in September, giving the team less than two months to take it from concept to reality. They made the tight deadline thanks to design collaboration with The Parade Company and the many Ford Philanthropy volunteers who donated their time and effort.

Paula Lee-Barnes, executive assistant to directors of manufacturing, was one of the many volunteers to chip in. She spent an afternoon priming and painting parts of the massive float, but like people all across the country won’t see it fully assembled until Thursday morning. The bit of paint that she wore home on her pants was a small price to pay for the rewarding experience of contributing to the Ford Volunteers effort.

“Seeing the float on TV Thanksgiving morning is going to be something special to look forward to,” Lee-Barnes said. “I guess I have a volunteering spirit, but I take pride in the company I work for, pride in what I do at work, but also the work I can do as a volunteer to make a difference.”

In The Parade Company’s warehouse on Mt. Elliot Street in Detroit, volunteers helped bring the design team’s vision to life. The three-trailer float, which tops out at 25 feet tall, recognizes the Build, Thrill, and Adventure tenants that speak to the enthusiast groups who are at the heart of the company’s brand campaign announced in September.  

Built to include meticulous detail, each of the vehicle models followed initial hand-drawn designs that gave the project direction. Vehicle details were added using actual CAD data from Ford.

“Vehicle recognition is very important to everything we do at Ford Racing, so we were very excited about the opportunity to bring racing to the Thanksgiving Day parade,” said Jeanee Kirkaldy, Ford Racing, global motorsports marketing manager. “We wanted those models to be as close to the factory vehicles as possible. The Parade Company and the volunteers did a great job with them.”

Ford and The Parade Company are longtime partners, and Ford is the official vehicle of the parade the Friday before Thanksgiving. We invite everyone to join us, either in person on Woodward Avenue or by tuning in live on WDIV (Local 4) from 10 a.m. to noon, to see our new float in America's Thanksgiving Parade.