BIRCH RUN, Mich. – If you are a regular reader of FordPerformance.com’s weekly Enthusiast content, then you likely know about the annual Midwest Club Summit meeting hosted by the Mustang Owners Club of SouthEastern Michigan (MOCSEM). Held each February in the outlet-mall town of Birch Run, Michigan, these annual meetings have grown into a can’t-miss opportunity for clubs looking to share best practices and growth ideas that have worked in the real world. The brainchild of MOCSEM’s longtime president, Mike Rey, the seminar – now known as the “International Council of Mustang Clubs Summit, Powered By MOCSEM and Ford Performance Club Connect” – invites clubs registered in the Ford Performance Club Connect program from across five neighboring states as well as from the nearly 100 member-clubs in the newly reenergized International Council of Mustang Clubs.
This year’s gathering of some 40 Ford and Mustang club principals from around the world (with about half attending in person and the other half via Zoom) was likely the most thought-provoking summit yet, thanks to an insightful youth marketing presentation that brought some fresh ideas to the table. Because the top recurring topic is always how to attract younger members, this time Ford Performance Club Connect enlisted two young members of the Lehigh Valley Thunderbird Club (who now both own Mustangs) to give a presentation to the group on how they got involved in the hobby and what they think clubs need to do to get young enthusiasts like themselves interested in the club life.
We’d met these two young gentlemen, Daniel Pruzinsky and Tyler McKenzie, at the big Thunderbird Reunion at Ford World headquarters back in 2023. Being that T-Bird club members generally are a bit older than most Mustang club members, you can image our surprise when we discovered that these two engaging twentysomethings were active members of a Thunderbird club – Daniel had even served on the board! When we re-connected with them last August at the Das Awkscht Fescht antique and classic car show in Macungie, Pennsylvania, (a show we’d covered on FordPerformance.com), this dynamic duo told us how they’ve both shifted to Mustang ownership. They had such compelling ideas on involvement with clubs that we invited them to share their thoughts at this year’s club summit.
To their notable credit, they decided to make the drive from central PA all the way to “The Thumb” of Michigan during a winter snowstorm to give their presentation in person rather than via Zoom – and all on their own time and own dime. As it turned out, they were the stars of the seminar. Not only did they offer cool event suggestions that clubs could easily adopt to get young people interested, but their strategy of adding an Instagram element to a club’s social media outreach beyond Facebook was an eye-opener for many.
Of course the energetic and highly entertaining Fabrizio Schenardi – who has expanded his own Mustangmania.IT club effort to masterminding the new Mustang Club Association of Europe – jumped in from Italy via Zoom to support Daniel and Tyler’s push for a club Instagram footprint. (Likely because Fabrizio has tens of thousands Instagram followers and can vouch for the impact it can make on reaching young gearheads.) Also joining in on Zoom (due to the snowstorm) was Joe Bellino, Ford’s Mustang Brand Manager, who spoke to the group about Mustang brand initiatives before hosting a spirited Q & A session.
Initially pegged a decade ago as a getaway-weekend planning session for the MOCSEM board to map out its upcoming year, the Friday-Saturday overnight event soon added a Sunday to its agenda. That’s because Rey wanted MOCSEM to share its internal Saturday work-session findings and ideas at a Sunday seminar for other Mustang clubs in the area so that all could work together in order to help create a better Ford club member experience across the entire region. Each year it grew -- from clubs in the Meto Detroit area and including those in Lower Michigan, then expanding to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois – even Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
By later adding a ZOOM meting function, participants didn’t even have to make the drive to the hotel conference room for the summit – although some wives had wanted to tag along for the weekend road trip because the town of Birch Run offered both a day at the outlet mall off of I-75 as well as a day in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Road-trip warriors familiar with driving in The Mitten State – or even billboard spotters who travel up and down I-75’s Midwest corridor – have likely either been to or have seen the signs for Frankenmuth, a Bavarian-themed little community in the Thumb area of Michigan. It’s home to Bronner’s, “The World’s Largest Christmas Store,” as well as the mega family-style restaurants Zehnder’s and Bavarian Inn, where you can get their “World-Famous Chicken Dinners.” This tourist town is chock full of quaint shops and unique stores catering to nearly every shop-a-holic – not to mention having a downtown brewery and a winery.
With the addition of invites to the International Council of Mustang Clubs – which had recently been turned over to Rey for a shot of new leadership – this year’s summit included participants as far away as Italy, Germany and Belgium. Ford Performance Club Connect shared a special presentation that revealed findings from travels to clubs and shows all over the United States and also offered strategies to successfully engage with younger Mustangers and enhance club growth.
If your club is located in one of the Midwest states but missed the summit invite, it’s likely because the club contact person you have listed on the FordPerformanceClubConnect.com map doesn’t check their email (or their spam file) often -- or your club may even have the wrong contact person listed. (You can send an email to ClubHub@Ford.com to update your club info at any time.) If you are outside the region but would like to get invited next time and join via ZOOM, you can contact ClubHub@Ford.com and get your name added to next year’s invite list, or maybe join the International Council of Mustang Clubs (www.mustangcouncil.com) and include your contact info there.
It was rewarding to hear all of the work that clubs are doing in the Ford enthusiast community and how they have strived to make the Mustang hobby so inclusive -- open to all ages, races, genders and product interests (and yes – that even includes fans of EV’s). The main takeaway from having two young enthusiasts offer insight into what might help attract younger members to the club experience is that a few new events and some fresh ways of reaching out could be a great way to help clubs boost membership. Sometimes just listening to their wants and needs can be a difference-maker – and that goes for everyone from Boomers to Gen X, Y and Z. To find a Ford club near you, simply visit FordPerformanceClubConnect.com.
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY MOCSEM
