INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, HYDERABAD

Integrated Marketing Communication

CASE ANALYSIS OF: -

“THE FORD FIESTA”

SUBMITTED TO

PROF.MANOJ DAS

SUBMITTED BY

GROUP-5

HARSHIT RAGHUWANSHI (16A1HP110)

AYUSHI AGARWAL (16A1HP108)

VIPUL GUPTA (16A1HP111)

RAJAN SHARMA (16A1HP112)

Summary

In April 2009, the Ford Motor Company launched an ambitious new marketing campaign
called the “Ford Fiesta Movement” (FFM). The FFM campaign was unlike any other used by
Ford since being incorporated in June 1903. It was a grassroots campaign that made heavy use
of online social media to build awareness and buzz for the 2011 North American Ford Fiesta,
a sub-compact car that Ford had not sold in North America for over a decade.
Chantel Lenard, director of Ford Global Marketing Group For small and medium vehicles and
Connie Fontaine, Director of Brand Content and Alliances called for a new approach to the new
vehicle and launched six months a full social media initiative focused on youth the ethnic diversity,
and urban market base, called “Fiesta Movement.” To do this, a large part of the marketing
campaign was given to 20 and 30 somethings across America and Ford had to acclimate to a new
way of doing marketing. How to guide society activities and messages of his army of bloggers?
The case is set two months after the move, the team assesses the measures from YouTube, Twitter,
Facebook, and their website, and ask if they are all they need to do to make the party a success
with a new market destiny. This was an interesting move by Ford’s marketing team, particularly
at a time when the other major US automakers were receiving federal government bailout money.1
General Motors and Chrysler were grabbing headlines for having executives fly in private jets to
testify in front of US congress committees, and for being forced to close plants, lay off workers,
and phase out iconic brands such as GM’s Pontiac. Although Ford was also receiving its fair share
of doom-and-gloom press during the 2008-09 financial turmoil and automobile industry crisis, it
was also enjoying some good publicity based on its use of non-traditional, low-cost marketing
programme due to the apparent success of the FFM.
Q1. Appraise ford’s marketing strategy for Fiesta in US against the challenges it seeks to
overcome?

The US automotive industry is highly penetrated with many giant players in operating in the
industry and fighting over the market share. The industry has players in the industry who have
been operating in the industry over a long-time span and they enjoy a strong history in the territory
and have strong customer base respectively. The marketing strategy adopted by the company
adequately helped it in communicating with the consumers’ needs and the target market of the
company. The marketing campaign carried out by the company was highly successful and
significantly helped the company in attaining their desired objectives with respect to their launched
product.

Through their affective marketing techniques, the company was able to gain high volume of
customer traffic and participation through their social media outlets. Ford also experienced an
increase in their sales of Ford Fiesta as they were successful in delivering the desired message to
the audience and it was well perceived by the audience. Communication through the marketing
activities was sufficient for the company to gain a higher customer base and increased market share
in the product category. The objective of the company was more towards attaining business
outcomes rather than social outputs. The company was very credible and careful while crafting
and carrying out the campaign as they had set a specific and measurable goal

Q2. How is the Fiesta movement performing by the metrics reported in the case? Should
other metrics have been used?

The reported metrics are not well defined, it also reflect the actual performance of the Fiesta
Movement and the movement could not be judged mainly because it is difficult to merge the sales
with such a marketing spend. The conventional tools of brands awareness and the other technic
were not applicable and suitable to measure the movement of the Fiesta performance. Ford Fiesta
was the important product which brought consideration regarding Fiesta's elements among
individuals in form, style and tech circles so that the product would be on the top of the customers’
mind when they become ready to buy a new vehicle to complement their busy, tech-intensive lives.
Ford had approached many social users to advertise the product around Europe and make the
priority of every car owner by presenting High-Tech features.
The other metrics should be considered to evaluate the actual performance of the company. Blogs
and YouTube subscription could not be found on top due to the uncertainty of people perception
and the strength of social media towards other social websites.
The other metrics include; In-person activity, Mainstream Media, Flickr photography, and other
most ranking social websites. The in-person event would include the test drive strategy to the new
customers, whereas mainstream media would allow the new stories of FFM campaign to create
awareness among the customers and highlight the feature of the product.
Q3. Is the campaign under control? What are the controls?
The campaign control convinced the target market and young drivers to feel comfortable and to
drive smoothly in the rush time. Further vehicle should have more fuel saving efficiency, which
would consume less fuel and would provide better average as compared to other competitors.
Company did various marketing activities to approach the target market through an online
advertisement, video-sharing and by contacting other social networks to promote the product and
increase the strength of customers. The word of mouth activity was implemented to spread the
news and to influence others to avail the opportunity. company decided to choose the pre-
traditional campaign that was designed to generate the awareness and interest in the new car. The
provided campaign was the target to the limited customers who were price conscious and the most
feature favourable people. The campaign was under the marketing control and was developed to
provide convenience to the American people to adopt the product’s features and to make the
practical for their family.

Q4. Are you satisfied with the reach of the campaign?

Ans. The campaign is well developed and marketing to capture the response of the customers and
advertise the product. The campaign was designed to influence the target market and to realize that
they needed to be a part of the younger consumers and highly supported to develop the social
networking. The company should require more hard-work and marketing efforts to make the
product successful to compete against the competitors, however initially it be high and there would
be minimum profit but once the product reaches maturity, it would increase the portfolio of the
company and it would increase the capabilities to avail the opportunity and expand the business.
The management should be more focused and conscious towards the product’s features and its
service to achieve customer satisfaction and increase their loyalty towards the company.

Q5. What is your advice to Chantel Lenard? Stay the course or make changes?