Ford Bets On Social Media For Fiesta 186
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."
Non-biased "free gift" reviews eh? (Score:4, 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
The new Ford "Colbert" . . . (Score:3, Funny)
. . . would have like totally eclipsed this campaign.
Get the name right next time, Detroit!
About time (Score:3, 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 [theonion.com]. And it wouldn't hurt to have searches for Ford pictures to return something less tacky [theonion.com].
Re:I'd buy another one (Score:3, Funny)
I was thinking "MyTwitFace".
Re:I'd buy another one (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Twitter... again? (Score:1, Funny)
I've never a single person who actually uses it.
You accidentally the verb.
Re:Twitter... again? (Score:4, Funny)
There's only so many mistakes one can into 140 characters.
Re:The special hundred (Score:5, 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!
Re:The special hundred (Score:3, Funny)
You know the Germans make good stuff.
SHAMWOW!