• by Karl Greenberg , January 11, 2010

Ford is first off the blocks in 2010 with its clinching of both car and truck of the year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The company won top honors for its hybrid Fusion and Transit Connect wagon. This year, Ford launches two critical vehicles that articulate in sheet metal CEO Alan Mulally's "One Ford" strategy of developing global automobiles, rather than distinct cars and trucks for distinct markets.

On Monday, Ford did a live chat from Detroit with Jim Farley, group VP of marketing at the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker. He fielded questions about how the company will use social media and the company's One Ford plan, and of course, the vehicles. He said the key to Ford's One Ford idea is, at its simplest, one car across the world.

In regard to Ford's focus on in-car technology for music, entertainment, communications and information: "The bottom line is, when you enter your car, it should be as cool as your iPhone." He said Ford's in-vehicle telematics and communications platform, Sync, should also host applications like iPhone. "My point of view is that we create an open platform like iPhone and let the applications flow based on Sync. This seems odd, since you would think we want dollars, but we want the Sync community to grow and these applications are more creative than we can create."

He also said Ford's social media strategy is global. "We are working regionally to assess the best places to be and investing in those places. Honestly, the Fiesta Movement idea came from a social media site in China."

Farley said Ford's moving 25% of its traditional media budget to interactive reflects a move toward credibility. "Giving 100 Fiestas out meant some would crash it and others would get in trouble. We need to have enough creative horsepower to come up with unique ideas that viewers will find fun," he said. "The advantages are credibility and efficiency."

Per Farley, 60% of Gen Y consumers are aware of Fiesta now, but that awareness had not been the goal. "We did it to learn and have a small group who were passionate spread the word. We had no idea that awareness would grow that fast."

This year in the U.S., Ford launches the Fiesta subcompact and its first global-platform car, Focus. Scott Monty, global communications chief for Ford, tells Marketing Daily that the company is using different approaches to market the two vehicles.

He says the divergent approaches reflect the fact that while Fiesta was pretty much terra incognita to Americans (although extant as a European model), Focus -- a nameplate that has been around since 1998 -- is widely known here, but unavailable even as a preview model the way Fiesta is. Ford was able to get Euro versions of Fiesta to Americans way before launch -- thus the Fiesta Movement program -- while the Focus launch will be more traditional.

Efforts for the former include a second iteration of "Fiesta Movement," in which Ford will loan a group of influencers the car for several months, while they do assignments. In the first iteration last year, so-called "Fiesta Agents" blogged about their experiences. Monty says that while that chapter focused more on the people borrowing the cars, the second iteration will be all about the cars.

"The 20 teams of two are going to be creative teams marketing Fiesta at a local level," he says. "They are people who will understand their markets best, so we will let them do more coverage about the vehicle itself this time around," he says. Per Monty, Ford has 4,000 pre-purchase reservations for Fiesta and is getting about 1,000 new ones per week. "We hadn't set any expectations, but we are pleasantly surprised."

As for Focus, Monty says there will be a lot of Web and social media activity between April and October. "Both cars appeal to a wide demographic, but the Fiesta was designed for the small-car consumer who wants all the bells and whistles of a high-end car and still wants a small feel.

"With Focus, there's more of that but with a broader audience because that vehicle segment will occupy 25% of the auto sector. The Focus has already had a lot of enthusiasts, and we will want to tap into that and be highly engaged with them."