Three years after its Fiesta Movement campaign wrote a new playbook for social-media marketing, Ford is launching a "Social Remix" for the 2014 Ford Fiesta that it hopes will represent a similar advance—and sell more cars—through an industry-first paid-media campaign that is completely crowdsourced.

Scott Monty, global head of social media for Ford, is unveiling the Fiesta Movement remix at a Social Media Week panel in New York this morning. Monty told brandchannel before the session that "we're taking the core idea of Fiesta Movement, which is still a very solid concept, and taking it to the next level."

The automaker is introducing the new Feista through a multichannel campaign that will be entirely crowdsourced by consumers. Also, in an echo of the original Fiesta Movement year-long campaign that gave new Fiestas to bloggers and other online influencers ahead of the car's 2011 debut, Ford is once again seeking 100 "social influencers" to convey the "unique personality and attributes" of the attributes of the new car — but "in an entirely different way," as the automaker stated in a press release.Continue reading...

Ford has taken some arrows as the auto industry's social-media-marketing leader, most notably around a staged press conference in Sept. 2011 that was pushed out on social media. But for the most part, the automaker's social aggressiveness has helped it conquer new territory. Becoming an acknowledged trailblazer in the arena also has helped Ford sidestep potential problems that can attend companies if they get too far out on social-media limbs.

"Ford being well-respected ... in the social space, has given us an added level of credibility and it has given us a legion of fans who actually act as our eyes and ears and who can flag stuff for us," Scott Monty, Ford's director of social media, told Business Insider. People are "looking out for our best interests and will say, you know, 'You guys might want to take a look at this.'" Including, evidently, the company's CEO.Continue reading...

Ford has been moving from one major social-media marketing innovation to the next, so it comes as little surprise that the brand is mounting a major digital and social effort around the 2013 Ford Fusion mid-size sedan.

"Random Acts of Fusion" is a multi-platform, transmedia campaign that features Ryan Seacrest as its "emcee." It centers around a contest in which consumers will "Unlock" how Fusion is able to "transform" the lives of people who drive it, Crystal Worthem, manager of Ford Brand Content & Alliances, stated.

In its slowly unfolding, almost teasing aspect, unlike previous Ford campaigns predicated on quick social-media participation, the Facebook-centered campaign is building anticipation by inviting fans to register and then stay tuned: "What's in the box? Register below to find out. Ryan will send one to each of the first 2,500 people who sign up for Random Acts of Fusion. Then come back to Facebook.com/FordFusion on July 5th to find out what happens next."

The teaser campaign "is designed to invoke emotion, which the [car] design does," Scott Monty, Ford's director of social media, told brandchannel. And the promotion is built "to go with people where they go — desktop to mobile to digital to social to experiential."Continue reading...

It was only last week that we asked, "Has Ford's Focus Spokespuppet Doug Jumped the Shark?" Turns out, he has jumped ship entirely.

Ford has decided to shelve Doug, the orange spokespuppet for the Focus, after a six-month run that did wonders for consumer interest in the car, exceeding the company's initial expectations.

Brandchannel has learned that the denouement of Doug's story will be told on Thursday with the release of the last new video in a series of many.

Ford released the penultimate chapter today, a Doug-less video that featured only "John," the human handler for the smart-alecky mascot, bemoaning the departure of his friend after Doug drove off himself in a 2012 Focus.

"The video today tipped it off," Scott Monty, Ford's head of social media, told brandchannel. "Tomorrow we'll have the concluding video."Continue reading...

You have to give Ford a hand. Seriously. Its new brand ambassador, Doug, can't operate without one. 

The odd-looking orange puppet is part of the automaker's new digital campaign to promote the 2012 Ford Focus, one that comes with some strong comedic chops.Continue reading...

What is it worth to a Fortune 10 brand to come back off the mat in just a few years, with industry-leading brand equity, untouchable marketplace momentum and, arguably, a best-in-class product line?

Alan Mulally is about to find out. Reports are that, when Ford finally reveals its CEO’s 2010 compensation in the coming weeks, it will far exceed the industry’s previous record of $73 million, set for 1998 by then-Ford CEO Alex Trotman.Continue reading...