Fiesta Movement’s success has Ford seeking a 6th gear

Is its social media triumph an impossible tough act to follow or a foundation for future campaigns?

“So, what’s our Fiesta Movement for this project?”

That’s the primary question that gets tossed around when Ford Motor Co. execs brainstorm about introducing a car model.

The “movement” the execs are referencing is the social-media-heavy, unprecedented buzz-worthy campaign geared for the Millennial generation that brought awareness to the company’s newest vehicle, the Ford Fiesta. In the first half of this year, the company distributed 100 Fiestas to motorists for a six-month period.

The “agents,” as Ford calls the test-drivers, documented their experiences—good and bad—on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets. That content was then collected and shown on the Fiesta Movement Web site, a portal neither edited nor censored by Ford.

The response has been overwhelming. So far, there have been more than 13 million impressions, says Ford’s social media expert, Scott Monty. Awareness of the Fiesta has grown by up to 40 percent. In addition, four times as many videos were created than originally had been expected, he says.

Ford’s social media expert Scott Monty offers his Top Five list.