The Social Media Marketing Blog: 11/01/2009

For those of us in the U.S., we have just celebrated Thanksgiving. It's a time of year when we gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate and give thanks for all that we have and all that we are.

I thought it was entirely appropriate then, to mention that the first segments of Ford's famed Fiesta Movement is coming to a close. And Ford has a lot to be thankful for. A bit of background, just in case you're not familiar with the program.

The Beginning of a Movement

First of all, why the term "movement"? The Brand & Content Alliance team that put this program together likened it to a social movement - which as defined by dictionary.com is a diffusely organized or heterogeneous group of people or organizations tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal. The collective awareness of and excitement around this new vehicle would be the goal.

In late 2008, Ford re-launched the Fiesta as an all-new vehicle in Europe. The name had been around for some 30 years, but the new Fiesta was to be something special indeed. This would Ford's first truly global platform car, which means that it will be nearly identical in any country you find it. Since the car was already available in Europe and would not launch in the U.S. until the spring of 2010, there was a unique opportunity at hand.

So, earlier this year, Ford announced that we would be making 100 Euro-spec Fiestas available to individuals or teams who proved they were socially vibrant and could take part in a 6-month long experiment, during which we would loan them a vehicle. The only requirement was that they would have to produce one video a month based on a theme (Travel, Technology, Style/Design, Social Activism, Adventure, Entertainment). Other than that, the Fiesta Agents (they received assignments, or "missions," from Mission Control) could say whatever they wanted about the vehicle. And we aggregated all of their content on fiestamovement.com - unedited, uncensored, in real time.

In addition to building buzz, we solicited feedback from the agents as to what they liked and didn't like about the vehicle. We shared that input directly with our engineering team and they were able to make a few tweaks to the North American version of the Fiesta before production was locked down.

Results
The program is just winding to a close, but the output has been impressive.

Of the 700 or so videos that the agents have produced, we've seen 6.5 million views on YouTube.
Their Flickr photos have been viewed more than 670,000 times
There have been over 3.4 million impressions of Fiesta Movement on Twitter.
Over 50,000 hand-raisers have indicated that they want more information about the vehicle as it goes on sale
97% of those 50,000 do not own Ford vehicles.
There is a 58% level of awareness of the Fiesta - for a vehicle that's not even available in this country yet, which is the equivalent of the awareness of some of our vehicles that have been in market for 2-3 years.
All with $0 in traditional advertising.

More information on the vehicle and the program can be found on Ford's Media site.

It's a Celebration

To help celebrate the success of our agents, Ford is throwing a little party - a fiesta of sorts, you might say - in Hollywood on Tuesday, December 1. We're hoping to make it the world's largest tweetup - and you're invited. Not only that, but as a community, we can work together to make the record a possibility. More on that in a moment.

The event will salute the agents - some 90% of whom will be in attendance - with awards. The band Parachute will perform and music will be spun by DJ Pesce, all while Current TV roams around, giving you a chance to be seen on television. Not to mention that the North American Ford Fiesta will be revealed for the first time. Add to that some celebrities, weblebrities and lots of interaction, and you've got a rockin' party.

Here's Where You Come In

We'd love to see you at the party. Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Time: 8:00 p.m.

Location: Hollywood Palladium, 6215 W. Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA (map)

You can RSVP on Eventbrite if you think you'll be in California next week. If not, please share the link with anyone in your network who might be in the area and encourage them to attend. There are a number of social networks built into Eventbrite, or you can tweet out something like this:

Ford Invites You To a Hollywood Fiesta! http://bit.ly/FiestaParty

We'd like to make sure we've got lots of people there who are connected to the program, the agents, or to our extended networks in some way. This is a great way to show the power of social media.

Giving Thanks

As I intoned in the opening paragraph, this time of year is about giving thanks and also about reflecting on what's happened in the past year. I'm reminded of Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town," in which the characters were reminded that it's important to stop and consider the little things in life. One of them lamented:

"It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another."

You can imagine that the Fiesta Agents, with their frenetic schedules over the last six months, have had little time to reflect. But already, even before the program is over, I've already seen a few of them stop to acknowledge how lucky they've been to be part of the program. Notably Hilary McHone (aka @BrooklynHilary) and Natasha Wescoat (@natasha). There may be others; these are the ones I recall seeing in a blur last week.

We have a lot to be thankful for at Ford this year. But that will be another post. Until then, I hope I'll be able to see you in Hollywood. If you can't be there, follow the #fiestamovement hashtag on Twitter on Tuesday night. It'll be a real fiesta.

Related article: Ford's Got a Reason to Fiesta

Labels: Ford, fun, social media

About Scott

For hi-res, click here

Ranked by Forbes as one of the top 10 influencers in social media, he has been called "an unstoppable force of nature," "the best corporate social media lead on the planet," and Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, called him "a visionary."

At Ford, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.

Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog and cohosts I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, two literary undertakings. Scott has been featured in hundreds of news and business publications in print and on the web, in nearly dozens of books, and on a variety of mainstream media, including NBC, NPR, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the Oxford Dictionary of English-accepted term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of Rosh Sillars; a PDF version of Scott's bio is here .

Books in which Scott or his work is featured:

The Social Media Strategist

Social Business by Design

Digital Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications

Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Real-Time Marketing and PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now

Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web

Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business

Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements

Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead

MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small

Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell and Live

Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business

The New Rules of Marketing & PR

by David Meerman Scott

Twitterville
by Shel Israel

Six Pixels of Separation
by Mitch Joel

Monkeys with Typewriters
by Jemima Gibbons

Read This First
by Ron Ploof

World Wide Rave
by David Meerman Scott

Get Seen
by Steve Garfield

Disclosures/Relationships

Scott is on the board of the Social Media Advertising Consortium

Scott has been named to the Advisory boards of Pivot, SavvyAuntie, Business Smart Tools, The Hive Awards,
Scott is a judge for the SAMMY Awards

Named one of iMedia's 25 Top Internet Marketing Leaders & Innovators

Humongo occasionally does web work for me and designed this site

No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.

Scott Monty Bio

Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please click here to submit a speaking request for Ford-related purposes or email me at speaking [AT] this site's URL (if you know what I mean) to send a general email request.. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.

Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the global head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views. My bio is available here and my headshots can be found here.