Fiesta Movement Reaps 50K Potential Buyers on $0 Ad Budget

Ford evangelist Scott Monty's sent us some stats on the progress of Ford's Fiesta Movement, whereby 100 social "agents" drive around the country in Euro-spec Fiestas and complete appealing monthly missions related to volunteerism, adventure, style and design.

The results of the missions are broadcast on YouTube, flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

According to Monty et al., brand awareness for the Fiesta has risen to the equivalent of models that have been on the market for two to three years.

The program -- which included a test-drive program -- has elicited the interest of about 50,000 potential buyers, 97% of which don't drive a Ford at present. For us this stat is interesting; in conversation with Monty in March, he mentioned that one of the biggest barriers to improving Ford's brand equity has been that many cradle-to-grave naysayers have never even used a Ford vehicle. So bringing the car to the people has helped a lot.

In toto, official Fiesta Movement content has drawn 4.3 million YouTube views, 540,000 flickr views and 3 million Twitter impressions.

"We didn't break the bank. We didn't use traditional media. We tried something different, and it is working," gushed Brand/Content Alliances Manager Connie Fontaine.

"We're delighted with how Fiesta is gaining traction with consumers. It's a whole new way of introducing a car to market."

And, Monty took care to remind us, the whole thing was done with $0 in ad budget and a fraction of marketing costs.

Gotta say, while we're glad Monty's efforts are bearing fruit, we're mostly relieved the Fiesta's not tango dancing anymore.

The 2011 model goes on sale in about nine months.