• by Karl Greenberg , June 1, 2010

Ford launched Fiesta last month, but the company is continuing the grass roots, social media, and experiential components that began last year. The automaker, which put the 2011 Fiesta in the 10th annual "Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival," from May 29-31 in Detroit, will also highlight the Fiesta as part of Ford's exclusive automotive partnership with the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The festival, which runs from June 10 to13 on a 700 acre farm is one of the two biggest (with Coachella) rock, jazz, folk and pop music festivals in the U.S. with some 100,000 attendees at the Manchester, Tenn. space.

Said Ford's Car Experiential Marketing Manager Jeff Eggen, "The target consumers for Fiesta are huge music fans, and our goal is to connect with that community in a fun and meaningful way," he said. "We want Fiesta to be a natural part of the scene so that it can be understood."

He said the car's presence in both festivals mirrors the Fiesta Movement social media campaigns that have been running for a year. "The Fiesta Movement enabled people to discover the car in a natural way while having fun with their friends," said Eggen. "We will do the same thing at these music festivals – give people an opportunity to interact with the new Fiesta and let them spread the word to their family and friends." At the Detroit event Ford had a venue called "Fiesta Lounge" with music piped live from the main stage and local artists painting Fiestas.

At the Bonnaroo event Ford will have something called "Fiesta Garage" a '70s-themed space where performers will hold forth about their process. The Bonnaroo element is tied to Ford's Fiesta Movement program. One of the bands that will be at Ford's Fiesta Garage is the winner of a second-phase Fiesta Movement program, where the "Fiesta Agents" had to choose a musician, DJ and/or band to host concerts in their local community.

Ford will also have a fleet of Fiestas at Bonnaroo that will transport staff, VIPs and artists around the festival. Bonnaroo has some 28 sponsorship partners, including Budweiser, Canon, Chase, Ben and Jerry's, and Vitamin Water.