Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ford Bets On Social Media For Fiesta

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the waiting-for-the-asplosions dept.

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."

37 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. The special hundred by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:The special hundred by fictionpuss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:The special hundred by Skyshadow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
    3. Re:The special hundred by ak3ldama · · Score: 5, Informative

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

      This should actually be pretty legit, I wouldn't guess that ford would hold the hands on these as they go through manufacturing. As a matter of fact Ford doesn't really have to do much of anything. The Fiesta should speak for itself and is widely regarded as being a good product. Here is a link for reference (I do not work for autoblog.com) This new Fiesta should even (hopefully) arrive on American shores. For once us Americans should have a competitive product compared to our European "friends." As a side note: it is nice to see a car that stays about the same size. It is lighter and stronger than the current Ford Fiesta, with similar dimensions.

      --
      "but money is the God of Algiers & Mahomet their prophet." - Rich. O'Bryen June 8th 1786
    4. Re:The special hundred by interkin3tic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re:The special hundred by scottmonty · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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

    6. Re:The special hundred by Dreadneck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Power does not corrupt - power attracts the corrupt.
    7. Re:The special hundred by rackserverdeals · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Dual Opteron < $600
    8. Re:The special hundred by fictionpuss · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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?

    9. Re:The special hundred by sexconker · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course this was back in the 80s when miles were much shorter than they are now.

      Surely those 32-33 MPG you were getting translate into like, 12-13 in today's miles.
      And this means the car died just after 70,000 miles.

      This is why we all need to switch to modern, fuel efficient vehicles which get around 30 miles per gallon and often last past 100,000 miles.

      Of course, hybrids are the greatest thing ever, and will beat even modern fuel efficient, gas-only vehicles. We're already seeing that the new Prius model will get around 40 MPG when you're carrying nothing but yourself, on a straight stretch at 35 MPH non stop. And this is for just $10k more than a regular car! And the average Prius will probably last for 300,000 miles without having problems outside of normal maintenance, like replacing the thousand dollar battery. 300k is 5 times longer than the average Prius owner will keep their cars on the road before recycling them into eco-cubes and buying the new model!

      Now that's progress!

    10. Re:The special hundred by sexconker · · Score: 2, Funny

      You know the Germans make good stuff.

      SHAMWOW!

  2. Twitter... again? by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:Twitter... again? by Sporkinum · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

      --
      "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
    2. Re:Twitter... again? by sakdoctor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Companies bailing from the second life bandwagon have to go somewhere.

    3. Re:Twitter... again? by JustinOpinion · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    4. Re:Twitter... again? by Idiomatick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re:Twitter... again? by MrEricSir · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    6. Re:Twitter... again? by MrEricSir · · Score: 3, Funny

      There's only so many mistakes one can into 140 characters.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    7. Re:Twitter... again? by rackserverdeals · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Dual Opteron < $600
  3. Clever by clarkkent09 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    1. Re:Clever by synthmob · · Score: 2, Informative

      The Fiesta is a relabelled/reskinned Mazda2 -- that is successful in many other parts of the world. I doubt highly that it is a POS as you call it.

  4. I'd buy another one by reboot246 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I owned a 1978 Fiesta. It was a blast to drive and got better gas mileage than most small cars today. The new ones look pretty sharp for a small car. Import 'em; I'll seriously consider buying one.

    Don't give a shit about Twitter, though.
    Or facebook, or myspace, or any other crap like that.

    1. Re:I'd buy another one by Anonymusing · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was thinking "MyTwitFace".

      --
      Liberal? Conservative? Compare perspectives at Left-Right
    2. Re:I'd buy another one by Dreadneck · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was thinking "MyFaceYouTwit"

      --
      Power does not corrupt - power attracts the corrupt.
    3. Re:I'd buy another one by MtViewGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ford will start North American sales of the new Fiesta from their upgraded factory outside Mexico City starting in January 2010. If it is a sales hit (and I expect it to fly out of dealers in no time flat), don't be surprised that by 2012 we'll see the Fiesta assembled in a USA assembly line too.

      The US version of the Fiesta will sport a neat new feature: the Powershift dual-clutch transmission with six forward speeds, which offer the convenience of an automatic with the fuel economy of a manual. And given Ricardo UK's work on cleaning up diesel engines, we could see the new Fiesta offered with the Duratorq turbodiesel engine, and that could mean the Fiesta gets Prius-like fuel economy!

  5. Non-biased "free gift" reviews eh? by decipher_saint · · Score: 3, Funny

    So Ford won't entice the reviewers for a positive review in any way, other than by giving them a free car...

    There's an old robot saying that applies here:
    DOES NOT COMPUTE

    --
    crazy dynamite monkey
  6. Risky move by Locke2005 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Risky move by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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".

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  7. The new Ford "Colbert" . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2, Funny

    . . . would have like totally eclipsed this campaign.

    Get the name right next time, Detroit!

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  8. What you see is sometimes not what you get by hwyhobo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem so far with bringing in European-American cars has been the annoying desire by American auto manufacturers to "Americanize" the cars by making changes that in the end make them much less attractive. Almost invariably the nice interiors get replaced with insultingly cheap plastic, small and efficient engines get replaced with boring, me-too offerings, and turbo-diesels are dropped from the lineup.

    I've been complementing Ford on their Fiesta ever since I drove it in Europe last year. Two people with considerable luggage, combined city and highway, we got 42 mpg (US) on the turbo diesel, even with my lead foot. I am 6'3", and I was quite comfortable (with an understanding that it is a small car, so no, this is not the Town Car-type of comfort). The interior was very pleasant. How much of it will make it to the US? I remain incredulous.

    --
    End anonymous moderation and posting on /.
    1. Re:What you see is sometimes not what you get by daveofnf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:What you see is sometimes not what you get by hwyhobo · · Score: 3, Informative

      The main problem with the adoption of diesel cars in the US is the perception that they are loud, smelly, expensive to maintain, boring to drive, and unreliable.

      Let's take it apart:

      loud

      They are slightly louder than gasoline engines, but the new ones are not really loud

      smelly

      Not any more. With Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel and current particulate control mechanisms you cannot tell a passenger diesel car from a gasoline one.

      expensive to maintain [...] unreliable

      Quite the opposite, actually. Diesel engines are build to last much longer than gasoline engines. You may be going back to the disastrous GM 5.7D attempt. That soured a lot of people, but that is long gone. Modern small diesels run forever compared to gasoline engines. Witness VW's 1.9.

      boring to drive

      Not necessarily. It all depends on what you like, horsepower or torque. I like driving diesels. Their forte is low end. Granted, it is an issue of personal preferences, so I will not argue that with you.

      It should be said that TDs gained ground in Europe in no small part due to the fact that diesel fuel gets preferential tax treatment, so in most countries (with a notable exception of the UK), diesel is cheaper than gas. In the US diesel is quite a bit more expensive that gas, so the fuel mileage gains stemming from higher energy density are partly lost.

      --
      End anonymous moderation and posting on /.
  9. About time by greg1104 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It sure makes sense for Ford to give cars to those who will write positively about their brand, like prolific writer and Fiesta fan Jim Anchower. And it wouldn't hurt to have searches for Ford pictures to return something less tacky.

  10. Diesel Engine by immcintosh · · Score: 2

    I REALLY wish I could get the new diesel Fiesta here in the United States. From everything I've heard, it's just an excellent car with insanely good gas mileage (better than a Prius). Too bad America hates diesel...

  11. editorial service by Eil · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dear CmdrTaco,

    Since your current editors are apparently way too busy to Google for a couple of important links (some of which are even mentioned in the summary), I decided to help out.

    Here they are.

    Am I hired now?

    (Also, that is one butt-ugly car. I'll stick with my Mazda3, thank you.)

  12. Impressed with Ford by spago · · Score: 2, Interesting

    After driving foreign cars for years we decided to give the Ford Fusion a try after hearing good things about it. Wow, we honestly were impressed, the price was great so we bought it. It drives nicely, European-like handling, has an interior that surprised us for a domestic, and the 4cyl gets great mileage for a car of this size. If the Fusion is any indication of Ford's direction, the Fiesta could be a hit. I know everyone on Slashdot automatically beats on domestics (I was there!), but really, they seem to be really trying. Plus since Ford didn't beg for any bailout money, that makes us feel even better about our choice. Way to go Ford, it was nice to be able to include a domestic on our shopping list.

  13. Re:Stupid idea, just like Mojave by CompMD · · Score: 5, Interesting

    News Flash: The Fiesta never went out of production in Europe, and has been constantly refined for the last three decades. In its current version, it is safer than a Volvo (thanks to Volvo technology), can come with a Mazda designed Diesel engine, and can storm a beach with the British Royal Navy. Seriously, watch the Top Gear review of the Fiesta; Ford could not buy a better review.