Ford Seeking "Socially Vibrant Agents" To Test-Drive Fiesta
By Michelle Krebs February 20, 2009By Michelle Krebs
DEARBORN, Mich. -- A fleet of Ford Fiesta cars were built in Cologne, Germany, this week and are headed for the United States, where 100 specially selected "socially vibrant" people will be put behind the wheel for several months of test-driving.
The 100 "agents," as Ford is calling them, will be selected from those who vie for the extended test-drives by applying on Ford's Fiesta Movement Web site and including a YouTube video on why they should be selected. Deadline for applications is March 13 with the "winners" being announced in April.
"We intend to put the Fiesta into the hands of really awesome, socially vibrant people," Fiesta Brand Manager Sam De La Garza told AutoObserver in an interview Thursday.
Their social vibrancy will be measured by the level of their activity on social media Web sites: the number of friends on Facebook; the number of followers on Twitter; the number of subscribers or views on YouTube; activity on Flickr. Already, some of the applicants have posted their videos on YouTube.
Once the 100 test drivers are selected, Ford will send them on monthly "missions" over the course of the six to seven months they are behind the wheel of the Fiesta. For instance, De La Garza said one month's theme may be travel. They may be required to go on a mission to a famous landmark or a not-so-well-known place to take video of them with the Fiesta.
Ford is entering a new vehicle segment with the Fiesta, which is a subcompact that slides in size beneath the Focus. The Fiesta also is aimed at a nontraditional Ford buyer -- Millennials, the next big generation consumer group that will total 70 million drivers in 2010. The largest of any generation, they make up 28 percent of the driving population, Ford says. Ford is using the Fiesta test-drive program and social media to reach this demographic, which must be communicated to in a different more high-tech way than their Baby Boomer parents.
Further, Ford hopes these Millennials will become advocates for the Fiesta.
The Fiesta, in essence, is a world car from Ford -- manufactured and sold in markets around the globe. It is already being built and sold in Europe and China. It will be built in the U.S. and go on sale in 2010.
Photos by Ford
1 - A Ford employee in the assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, works on the Ford Fiesta.
2 - The Ford Fiesta is already on sale in Europe and China; it goes on sale in the U.S. in 2010.
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The Fiesta sold in North America will be built in Mexico not in the U.S.
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