As I discussed in an earlier post, Who’s testing the limits of social media?, Ford promoted its 2009 Euro-spec Fiesta through the social media influences of 100 twenty-somethings. The power was in the hands of the consumers- complete transparency into the functions of the Ford Fiesta- as they blogged, Tweeted, and made videos describing their experiences with the Ford Fiesta. Ford provided free gas to all of the “agents,” the people in charge of creating buzz, and in return they were given tasks each month to then create a “mission video.” Through this first Fiesta Movement, Ford saved millions of dollars by not reaching out to traditional methods of advertising and the exposure and awareness of the new Fiesta topped some models Ford had on the market for 2-3 years.
The first movement generated 6.2 million YouTube views, over 750,000 Flickr views and about 4 million Twitter impressions. Ford has gotten 6,000 reservations for the Fiesta, about half of which are from customers who did not previously own a Ford.
Since the Fiesta Movement worked so well the first time, Ford is attempting a second round to promote the 2011 model. This time around there will not be 100 individuals, but 20 teams of 2 agents and they are also trying to get the movement both on- and off-line. Ford knows that this second movement will not be able to break into as many new opportunities online, so they are trying to expand their awareness into communities. The teams of agents will be holding activities Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, San Diego, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Orlando, Phoenix, Atlanta and Miami. There will be ways that the agent teams can engage their communities online as well as follow them throughout the program. Their goal for the community-based interaction is that it will reach demographics not on the social media networks and establish new conversations.
Ford allows you to watch videos people have made and even ask drivers questions. Here’s a video of a road trip with the Fiesta, and its drivers, in response to “Mission 1.”
It will be interesting to see how successful the second Fiesta movement will be, in relation to the first, and in the sales of the 2011 model. Will reaching out and interacting with the communities really generate more sales? Is it risky to try another round of a similar movement?
With Ford getting 6,000+ reservations for the new Fiesta, it appears as though ‘Round One’ of the Fiesta Movement was pretty successful. I think it’s a good marketing strategy to hold ‘Round Two’ in major cities across the U.S., being that younger populations reside in cities and they are more likely to access social media such as YouTube and Twitter. It should essentially create a bigger buzz, if you will. Plus, the bottom line of Ford’s campaign is for its participants to go out & have fun on their “missions.”
Having fun road-tripping with gas being paid for sounds like a good time to me!
I think that it was really smart of Ford to reach out and do something different with their advertising dollars. With the economy being in the bad shape that it is and car companies struggling to make ends meet, they need to do everything that they can to stand out from the others. The success they appeared to have with their first stab at this campaign proves that social media can work when used correctly. I think that it is understandable that the second wave will not be as successful as the first one, but it is definitely worth continuing because even a fraction of the results from the first one would be more than they would have had without this campaign.
I think Ford is being smart by performing a second round of this hugely successful campaign! Obviously it worked the first time so why wouldn’t it work the second time? Even though it is risky, it already proved successful once. I know that when I read about it for the first time I wished I had been able to participate. I think having a second round will allow so many others to participate who didn’t know about the campaign until after it happened, and who are wanting to participate this go-around. With such a positive outcome the first time, it set a great foundation to influence others to join the bandwagon.
I agree that it seems smart of Ford to continue with a campaign that had such a positive outcome the first time around. However, it leads me to wonder if a campaign like this will retain the interest of the potential consumers, or if they will feel that it has already run its course. I know Ford has made some changes to the campaign so that it is not exactly the same, but do any of us really take advertising campaigns into consideration before a hefty purchase such as a car?
I think most of the research says that people don’t look into the cars they buy until after.