Ford Bets On Social Media For Fiesta

Ford is gambling on the power of social media for the new marketing campaign surrounding the Ford Fiesta subcompact. The auto giant handed over 100 new Fiestas to "agents" selected from 4,000 applicants and created YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter accounts for them to relay their experiences. "Ford is taking a hands-off approach and telling participants not to hold back their opinions, bolstering the campaign's credibility. 'We've told them to be completely honest — that's the only way it's going to work,' Monty told us. 'We won't tell them what to say, nor will we censor or edit any of their content.' So far, it's working in Ford's favor. The tweets on the FordFiesta Twitter page are generally favorable, if a bit dry, as are the posts over at The Fiesta Movement Facebook page. None of the 80 pictures on the Fiesta Movement Flickr page show broken down cars. There are a few hundred videos on the FiestaMovement YouTube account if anyone's got a few hours to kill."

Comments

The special hundred

[Ethanol-fueled]

handed over 100 new Fiestas to "agents"

Perhaps 100 which received special care and attention, manufactured to higher tolerances than those of the actual production run.

The marketing may be honest, but that dosen't mean that there isn't B.S. there.

Re:The special hundred

[fictionpuss]

And if there are real reasons to be sceptical, such as those as you suggest, then it'll all come out in the wash.

To me though, it just seems like one of those rare instances of a large company respecting its customer base and bravely embracing the internet - good things IMHO.

Getting large companies to get in touch with its customers like this can be really tough.. but when you think about it, and all the wasted natural resources from making crappy products.. initiatives like this should be encouraged.

Re:The special hundred

[Skyshadow]

I'm sure these are well optioned-out and checked over before they're sent out, but modern cars almost never run into issues in the first few thousand miles anyhow -- if you want to talk build quality, you need to put 20 or 30k on the odometer.

Re:The special hundred

[interkin3tic]

And if there are real reasons to be sceptical, such as those as you suggest, then it'll all come out in the wash.

Assuming it can be summed up in 140 words. And also that anyone will care in the first place.

Re:The special hundred

[scottmonty]

The actual production run doesn't even exist yet - these are vehicles that were brought over from Europe so the agents can test them and give us feedback. It wouldn't serve us to do something different to these cars if we're looking for ways to optimize the American version with their input, would it? The U.S. version of the Fiesta will be in production in Q2 of 2010. Scott Monty | Global Digital Communications | Ford Motor Company |@ScottMonty on Twitter

Re:The special hundred

[Dreadneck]

And if there are real reasons to be sceptical, such as those as you suggest, then it'll all come out in the wash.

Of course there are real reasons to be skeptical. If they wanted to get honest opinion they would have asked 100 people who *purchased* a Fiesta to blog/twitter/youtube about their experience with the vehicle.

People are a lot more likely to give you their honest opinion about a car that they're paying for than one that was given to them as part of a promotion.

Re:The special hundred

[rackserverdeals]

Actually, their biggest mistake was getting 100 people and "creating" those social media pages for them.

They should have just selected 100 people that already had popular social networks accounts.

Re:The special hundred

[fictionpuss]

Of course there are real reasons to be skeptical. If they wanted to get honest opinion they would have asked 100 people who *purchased* a Fiesta to blog/twitter/youtube about their experience with the vehicle.

From the article: "Ford wants to generate buzz for the Fiesta, which will bring Europe's "small cars can be cool" ethos to America when it arrives next year."

It's illogical to expect a corporation not to act in its own best interests. What is interesting about this promotion however, is a corporation realising that in this age of communication, sometimes its best interests are served by not treating its customer base like idiots. It's not like the whole "free car for 6 months" part is a secret - would you not take that into account while reading a review from such a person?

Why are we so quick to indulge in righteous outrage?

Twitter... again?

[MrEricSir]

Why is Twitter suddenly such a big deal? Yesterday we hear that Oprah is starting to use Twitter, now Ford. But why?

Is Twitter really some kind of revolution, or is everyone jumping on a random bandwagon because they're afraid they'll look behind the times if they don't?

Re:Twitter... again?

[Sporkinum]

I remember looking at twitter a few years ago and thinking it was fucking retarded. My opinion hasn't changed.

Re:Twitter... again?

[JustinOpinion]

Twitter is a big deal because people use it. Yeah it's that simple.

Like many such things, it's a matter of network effects. There's nothing intrinsically amazing or even unique about Twitter. But some people started using it because it was fun, and it caught on. Now the pervasive reason to use it is to connect with all the people using it: either to follow people/trends you care about, or reach an audience you're interested in (whether that's "friends" or "the world" or "customers"...).

You'll also notice that Ford is not merely using Twitter. They are using Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc. From their point of view, Twitter is just another channel through which they can reach potential customers. Thus they just add it to the list of newspaper, phone, radio, TV, etc.

"Jumping on the bandwagon" may seem uncool, but when one is trying to connect with others, it's quite logical to join in the most popular communication channels.

Re:Twitter... again?

[Idiomatick]

The media hailed blogging more than they did anything else in past (internet related). Streaming video, radio, chat programs and the internet itself all combined didn't make as much of a media fuss as blogging.

Now comes twitter. What do these two things have in common? Target Audience. They both target socially starved people addicted to attention. People that think they are so important that people CARE if they are drinking a coffee or taking a dump. And these same people are those attracted to the mass media industry or some sort of acting/singing scenario. All the famous people see the attraction, all the people writing news see the attraction.

It wouldn't if 90% of the world was blindingly enraged by the idea of twitter. It would still be popular.

Re:Twitter... again?

[MrEricSir]

That's the thing though; old media is OBSESSED with Twitter. But is anyone else?

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I've never a single person who actually uses it.

Re:Twitter... again?

[rackserverdeals]

told her to just search twitter to find out

I guess Google was down the other night huh? "Important" news like that would have instantly hit major news sites, blogs, what have you, that get crawled frequently. It would have probably been on Google news too.

Clever

[clarkkent09]

We won't tell them what to say, nor will we censor or edit any of their content.

But we gave them a free car so out of a 100 people majority are probably going to feel bad about writing something negative. It could backfire badly if the car turns out to be a pos, but if the car is at least half decent this seems like a nice marketing move.

Btw, if Lamborghini ever decides to employ the same strategy let me be the first to volunteer

Risky move

[Locke2005]

Right now, I have a lot more respect for Ford than for GM or Chrysler. They are not going bankrupt, and the new Fusion Hybrid looks to actually be a decent car. But if the marketing drones an GM or Chrysler can actually locate these blogger cars and sabotage them, then Ford is going to have a Public Relations nightmare on their hands.

Re:Risky move

[Locke2005]

I was thinking more along the lines of how most motorists walk away from a collision with negative emotions, even if it isn't the fault of the car itself. Do you remember how your feelings for your bright, shiny new car changed the first time somebody slammed their door into it in a parking lot? Suddenly, it wasn't "bright", "shiny" or "new" anymore -- it was just "car".

Re:What you see is sometimes not what you get

[daveofnf]

I find this funny because I'm in the market to buy a new car and I hate all of the domestics (I live in Canada). The only one I kind of like is the Saturn Astra, but it seems pretty over priced for what you get. I wish we had the selection of small cars that Europe has. The prospect of a turbo diesel... oh man sign me up. The only way you could make that any more attractive is to make it all wheel drive.