Photo Courtesy: Ford Motor Company
By Adam Proehl
First off, I need to give full disclosure here – I’m a Ford guy and have been since I was about 5 and got to ride in my uncle’s late 60′s Ford Mustang. I now own a classic 67 Mustang that I will keep driving (and tinkering with) until the day I die. I’m also on my third Ford Explorer (a 2001 Eddie Bauer with 162k miles on and I’m stubbornly determined to drive it til it quits) which is what I wanted to discuss today.
I love the way Ford is revealing the new 2011 Explorer on Facebook. Click here to check it out. What do I love about this campaign? Well, several things:
1. They didn’t go for broke with a $2.2 million Super Bowl ad or pick a spot during the American Idol finale (although they’re a big sponsor of that show and you could argue it would’ve made sense to do something with it there).
2. Instead, they did the big reveal on Facebook this morning and throughout the day will be revealing more. What did it cost Ford to get all those videos on Facebook today? Nothing… Now, I’m sure you could argue production costs and labor which would be valid, but no insertion orders were purchased.
3. They put up 12 videos in total – each available at a different time throughout the day. That may be a little much – I’m a Ford fan, but I probably won’t be waiting around in anticipation of each one launching. However, I love the way they’ve broken it up just so you can see pieces that interest you.
4. They couldn’t buy this much ad space anywhere on TV.
5. It’s already getting lots of press from USA Today, Fox, Boston Globe, etc. That will likely build as the day progresses. Would some expensive TV ads have generated this much excitement?
6. We get to hear from the team that designed, built, and tested it. I don’t know what the final minute count will be once all the videos are live for viewing, but since there are no timeslot limitations, who cares?
7. Ford is on fire (again, full disclosure here, I’m a little biased having owned many over the years) with products and marketing and I really haven’t found many missteps by them lately (even the Fiesta is cool and for a guy who’s a fan of SUV’s and Muscle Cars, that’s saying a lot). Rolling this out on Facebook just makes a lot of sense. Why not give 500 million users the chance to see it?
8. Notice how the campaigns are making it easy for people to view and “like” on Facebook, not driving campaigns to the Ford web site. Even if you start out on the Ford site, clicking on the image or “learn more” drives you to Facebook. Five years ago we told clients that the web site should be the hub of all marketing efforts. Looks like now it’s becoming Facebook.
9. It is super easy for every media outlet in the world to pick up any of the videos and share with their audiences. MSNBC posted the big reveal here.
10. Last point (there’s a lot of things I like, but I want to keep this list to ten) – the gas mileage. I love my (almost) ten year old Explorer, but the gas mileage is horrible. When we saw $4 gas two summers ago, trips to fill up were not easy on the pocketbook. If the new fuel efficiency ratings hold true, then it will be welcome in my garage.
We’d love to hear your comments. Thanks.
Adam Proehl
Posted by Adam Proehl 
