Mediapost.com
(April 13, 2010) Ford is promoting its forthcoming Fiesta compact car to young, urban, fashion-conscious African American consumers with a range of programs leading up to the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards in June. The efforts include new advertising for the car starring someone to be picked from among people who attend a casting call at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University.
The automaker's "Inspired by Color" program aims to find people whose "unique and stylish" personalities represent the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
The company, whose agency of record for African American and urban marketing is Uniworld, says it will tap five people to appear in a national advertisement for the Fiesta that will air this spring. The program's judges will be R&B Singer LeToya Luckett, eBay style director Constance White, Parrish Clothing founder Tony Shellman and Ford Fiesta designer Kevin George.
Ford promoted the April 13 - 15 casting event with local radio, targeted online and mobile, posters and street teams designed to drive consumers to www.fordurban.com. The sign-up site has shots of the car and a palette of color options. Interested parties must wear an outfit in the chosen color to the casting call.
Ford will promote the event itself with a team of "fashionistas," including "Project Runway" star Michael Knight, who will interview attendees for sound bytes. There will also be what Ford is calling a custom interactive eZine, "Inspired By Color" that will launch following the campaign and will recap the entire program with additional issues to follow, leading up to and immediately after the 2010 BET Awards.
The buying power of African Americans in the United States will hit $1.2 trillion by 2013, per the Television Bureau of Advertising. The TVB says in 2013, African-Americans will account for 8.8% of all U.S. buying power, up from 7.4% in 1990.
Ford says its Fiesta Movement social media program for the car has gotten some 6.2 million YouTube views, 750,000 Flickr views and nearly 4 million Twitter impressions. The company says that, so far, it has garnered 100,000 hand-raisers for the car.
http://www.fordurban.com/fiesta/
7 comments:
I'm afraid to say...what I really think about that pic. yep.
Chai!!! Please say it. That's what we are here for. We want better representation in these ads. I didn't think it was that bad. But I would love to hear your thoughts.
Hmmm...could be a pigeonholed feeling that immediately set in. A hodegpodge representation of what's 'supposed' to appeal to the urban fashionista...bright colors, gold pumps, and a music player are the most generic non-important influences in my life, - or, I dunno, could be I'm no longer in the age bracket the campaign targets - it's not bad, but I'm a tougher sell when it comes to shelling out 15-30 (?) thousand dollars for a show piece. I'd rather see the interior of the car, it's techno-savy features that help me get to where I got to go, as opposed to...pointy gold shoes...?
my 7yr old vocab would just call it cheesy:-)
I am completely underwhelmed. I think "cheesy" is the appropriate term.
What is this? I think this is for a casting call not a advertisement. Their is no relevant copy or call to action. I need to see more of this e-zine to give my final thoughts
Now were talking. It does remind me of what was cool in 1995. In 1995 this woulda been hot! That's often a problem with African American advertising. It looks and feels ten to fifteen years old.
Ok I came back cause they finally release some content from this event. I actually like it. There is a ton of content on here. I can't believe they are doing 5 of these:
http://www.fordurban.com/fiestacolor/
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