Can James Farley and Social Media Save Ford?

It seems like a ridiculous idea.... that a web site or an online campaign can save anything. Yet, Ford's hopeful hiring of James Farley isn't so far off. Farley, after being lured away from Toyota, has set the wheels in motion to change the course of a company that has lost over 15.3 billion dollars over the last 2 years.
Looking at Farley's accomplishments at Toyota make the halo over social media glow just a little brighter though. A sparky website, street type brand awareness, young models, video. Now I'm not trying to say that those alone are the key to Toyota's success over Ford, but it certainly didn't hurt. It's also exiting to think that after TV commercials, direct mail, and radio ads that result in little or no response despite certain measurement companies claiming that people are listening, something is working. And it's online.
Fortunately for those creative types, bannering people to death isn't gaining quite the attention that campaigns with a level of moxie to them. It's the elusive innovation that social media seems to hold that's the darling of advertising these days. Keep your eye out for Ford in the future to see what James Farley comes up with.