Ford Fiesta Can Protect You From Zombies, and Has Video To Prove It
Just in time for Halloween, Ford (F) has come up with a funny video using zombies -- yes, zombies -- to illustrate the desirable features of the all-new Ford Fiesta. The related web site is called Zombies Hate Fiesta.
For instance, the Ford Fiesta allows you to get in your car and start it without using the key. That's an especially useful feature if you're frantically fleeing zombies. In a Ford video, drivers of competing cars like the Honda (HMC) Fit and the Toyota (TM) Yaris fumble with their keys and get eaten.
The idea isn't just fun and games, although it's OK with Ford if that's how people take it, without realizing they're really immersed in advertising and marketing. On a serious note, Ford is reinforcing a perceived lead over other automakers in using social media to engage customers.
That's been especially true for the Ford Fiesta, which was launched after an extensive social media campaign called the Ford Fiesta Movement. Ford set "missions" for thousands of volunteer Fiesta "agents" to accomplish. Participants enthusiastically taped themselves, and posted the videos.
By all accounts, the campaign has been a bang-up success in terms of gaining exposure for the Ford Fiesta long before it went on sale this spring. Meanwhile, other automakers were just dipping their toes in the social-media water.
Ford calls its latest follow-up social media campaign, the one involving zombies, the Facebook Challenge. There's a new challenge each week, starting with the Zombie Survival Guide. Ford wants users to "zombify" themselves and create a picture inspired by the introductory video, where the Honda and Toyota owners get eaten.
For the squeamish who don't want to shoot their own zombie video, there are other, tamer suggested "challenges," including helping a charity.
Based on the results, Facebook users will vote on the best user-generated content. A winner will be awarded a prize each month. The challenge ends in January. The overall winner at the end wins an Apple iPad.
Related: