Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Introduction/Overview
Ford introduced Ford Fiesta in the US market in 2009 in an attempt to reposition itself in the
automobile industry. This launch was an attempt to reintroduce a class B vehicle and company
also launched a new marketing campaign. This marketing campaign Ford Fiesta Movement
was one of its kind in the auto industry and we have tried to analyze the pros and cons of the new
movement by Ford in the discussion that follows.
Problem Definition
Major US car manufacturers were infamous for the poor quality and spending habits in the past
years and this resulted in a number of foreign player entering and establishing themselves in the
past few years. This intensified the competition in the market and hence it proved to be
challenging for Ford to launch a compact car in the market.
Ford therefore want to convince that their smaller and compact cars are equally cool. Also, US
car market had shown a declining trend over the last two decades whereas the prices were on the
rise for the new cars. Also, competition in the market had increased as new competitors entered
the market and car makers were forced to lower the prices due to stiffer competition.
Competition
Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa Hatchback and some of the Honda models were the major
competitors of Ford Fiesta. Fiesta was placed second in terms of price (costly). Each and every
car had similar features like seating capacity, second row foldable seats, front wheel drive etc.
Fuel efficiency was also comparable among the cars. Appearance and aesthetics was the biggest
difference between the cars with fiesta being the sportiest of all.
Company Background
Henry Ford started the Ford Motor company in 1903 in Michigan, US. Ford was the inventor of
the assembly lines in the automobile industry and the company reaped huge benefits courtesy
assembly lines as this production principles enabled them to master mass production. Ford
manufactured cars in a much shorter time and at a significantly lower costs. With highly efficient
manufacturing systems in place, Ford was a force to reckon with at that point in time the
automobile industry across the world.
Ford is the second largest automobile manufacturer in US (and 5 th globally). Ford fiesta was first
introduced in the year 1970 but the product failed at that time. Product was however pretty
successful in the European market and is still quite popular in that market.
Industry Marketing Techniques
Group 15: Vishwajeet Goel B14121 | Aabhas Aeran B14124 | Mukesh Ranjan B14158
Group 15: Vishwajeet Goel B14121 | Aabhas Aeran B14124 | Mukesh Ranjan B14158
Test drives opted were considered as a measure of effectiveness campaign was yet
another parameter to judge the popularity of Fiesta Movement.
4. Original Content generated by the Agents
The Fords goal to post 600 videos in 6 months on youtube and FiestaMovement.com was
achieved in just 2 months with 655 videos posted on these social media channels.
Another evaluative parameter was share of voice in Press which rose to 33% for Fiesta in just 2
months. The 92% positive sentiment was also much more than that for the competitors.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Below average result of test drives which have traditionally been a measure of
effectiveness of marketing campaign
Negative publicity by an agent in case of a car damage etc.
Group 15: Vishwajeet Goel B14121 | Aabhas Aeran B14124 | Mukesh Ranjan B14158
never owned a Ford vehicle before. So, there efforts to enhance the brand image in the class B
car segment was definitely successful.
However, these leads need to be converted to sales. Also, the momentum needs to be sustained.
After it is able to convert the leads to sales, it also needs to decide if it should switch the
marketing to VMCs, stay with traditional campaigns or use a mixture of both.
Our recommendation is to use a mixture of both the campaigns to reach a wider spectrum of
consumers. The focus should be more on VCMs so that they able to reach out to their target
markets which is the younger market more effectively. Markets today are increasing becoming
consumer driven from product driven. Usage of interactive communication is an important part
of the overall communication strategy. VCMs are a good way to accomplish the same and
continuous improvements should be targeted at by Ford.
Group 15: Vishwajeet Goel B14121 | Aabhas Aeran B14124 | Mukesh Ranjan B14158