new ford focus digital and social media case study

New FORD FOCUSLast update: 11.08.2011

New FORD FOCUS

Social Media Campaign - Case Study

August 2011

New FORD FOCUS

The Brief Product: new Ford Focus

Brand positioning: Style and technology combined with emotional benefit (affordable technology in the segment)

The opportunity is to ground this promise of a thoroughly involving driving experience on the advanced technology of new Focus - technology that delivers the control that enables the driver to exploit and enjoy this driving experience. ‘Starting more than a car’ has to dramatise or demonstrate is the ‘more than’. This is the emotional benefits that arise from the Focus pillars: The exhilarating experience of driving the car.

Brand message: Start more than a car (explore technology & innovation)

Competition: Dacia Logan, Opel Astra, Skoda Octavia, VW Golf

New FORD FOCUS

The Brief Task: to create a pre-launch and launch campaign for the next generation

of Focus.

Background: new Ford Focus was a car that everybody was expecting. Still, the launch of new Focus was a challenge as the big first campaign developed by Romania NSC.

It has been a mandatory request to use social media channels and develop an impactful campaign in social media environment. This was a challenge for the local Wunderman agency, as Ford Romania started to use social media channels starting with December 2010.

New FORD FOCUS

The Objectives

Create interest and direct consumers to experience the test drive with the new Focus – 5000 test drive taken / leads

Create an impactful teasing campaign for the pre-launch phase

Generate awareness for the new product. Ensure visibility beyond Automotive, Business, Economy, Lifestyle, Entertainment in online environment

Generate social media content through earned media channels and social media environment

New FORD FOCUS

Men (70%) 20 - 45 years old; AB segment (ESOMAR) MarriedMedium to high educationMedium to high income: 15.000 - 20.000 €/yearJob: middle management; free lancer / entrepreneur

Statements: I try to always learn something newFor me, the quality of the product is more important than the priceFor me is very important to have a sporting activityI try to convince the others to go outWhen on holidays, I like discovering other countries, places, people

Men (70%) 20 - 45 years old; AB segment (ESOMAR) MarriedMedium to high educationMedium to high income: 15.000 - 20.000 €/yearJob: middle management; free lancer / entrepreneur

Statements: I try to always learn something newFor me, the quality of the product is more important than the priceFor me is very important to have a sporting activityI try to convince the others to go outWhen on holidays, I like discovering other countries, places, people

The Target

New FORD FOCUS

The new Ford Focus is the car to have, as it offers the most innovative & advanced technologies to meet your every need, while remaining affordable (compared to other C segment models).

Advanced yet affordable technologies within this segment enhace the driving experience beyond what regular cars can normally provide, allowing for an unmatched sense of fulfillment and exhilaration.

Ford’s “4 pillars” approach results in a product able to meet all the consumers’ needs, be they focused on safety, gadgets/new tech, driving experience, or minimizing the environmental impact.

Product Positioning

New FORD FOCUS

• The new Ford Focus is more than just a car. With new technologies unprecedented in its class, it answers the concerns of both those preoccupied by safety and gadget afficionados; it provides both an exhilarating driving experience and every means to reduce the environmental impact.

• Learn of the advanced technologies. Experience the drive.

START more than a car.

Campaign Concept

New FORD FOCUS

Local concept: Discover the newest Auto Technologies (www.tehnologieauto.ro)

Brand message: Start more than a car (explore technology & innovation)

Start a totally involving driving experience, enjoy your driving experience:

• Feel more connected

• Have more control

• Make more happen

Start a more rewarding driving experience, more ‘drive per litre’ through a more efficient and exciting drive

• More exhilaration

• More control

• More efficiency

What we’re asking people to ‘start’

Focus Pillar Techno Talented Addictive Driving Experience

The car remains the hero of the communication even when these feelings and emotions are expressed through metaphor and evocative language. The attitude and exhilarating tonality of the communication are as important as the content.

Local Campaign Approach

New FORD FOCUS

May 9th

Build buzz

Focus landing pagewww.tehnologieauto.ro

Social media (Club Ford; Facebook;

Youtube)

4 Key Opinion Leaders

PR

PR

E-L

AU

NC

H

LA

UN

CH

Key Opinion Leaders

&Social media (Club Ford; Facebook,

Youtube)

Showroom activation

(Open Weekends)

PR

April 16th - May 8th

Lead management - emailing

- National caravan- Consumer contest

ATL-TV- print - radio - OOH- digital

National caravan

Consumer contest

Strategic Overview

New FORD FOCUS

Quality Technology It looks fantastic and it feels just as great. From the slick and dynamic exterior, embodying the Kinetic design, to the modern, high-quality interior, the new Focus will fit you naturally. And it goes way beyond simple looks. Focus keeps its trade-mark agility, but at the same time has become more environmentally-friendly and economic. It features advanced technologies, driver assistance systems, vast entertainment and multimedia options. Every bit of the new Focus builds up to a high-quality driving experience.

Green Technology Our constant strive for a cleaner, healthier environment has lead to us looking for fresh, innovative technologies, which allow people to enjoy their every-day routines with less concerns regarding their environmental impact. We have Focused all these efforts in the Green approach towards building More Than a Car. And we go beyond simply providing economic, low-emissions technologies – we work with our drivers on achieving a most ecological and economical driving style.

Focus Communication Lines

New FORD FOCUS

Safe TechnologyFord strives to provide owners with an ever safer experience. The new Focus is fitted with numerous safety features, so as to minimize the whole span of unwanted incidents – from minor fender-benders to serious, life-threatening situations. That doesn’t mean the driver is less in control than before – just that, now, drivers have more tools to help them keep that control.

Smart TechnologyThe new Focus will work with you, instead of working for you. It will make your tasks easier, to let you focus on enjoying the ride. It understands more and, when needed, it can even jump in independently and assist a tired, inattentive or simply endangered driver. Also, it can accommodate more from the driver than ever before – the intuitive interface lets you tell the car –in a simple and effective manner – precisely what you want it to do for you. Even more – at times the car can even give YOU some pointers!

Focus Communication Lines

New FORD FOCUS

Campaign ApproachIn order to drive traffic to the dealers’ showrooms and to raise awareness and

interest in the new model, we have established a website detailing all the technologies which make the new Focus such a special car to have, to drive and/or to be driven in.

www.tehnologieauto.ro has four sections, one for each technology, so as to cater to the various needs of our target audience. The site acted as the campaign hub, with all communications directing traffic to it. According to the path followed to the site, the users found details on the pillar they were interested in, and have been encouraged to explore the other three dimensions.

The campaign has included a strong social media component, with relevant public (and popular!) figures endorsing specific car features. The website has been, in effect, included in the social media activities, being more than just a destination of the generated traffic.

www.tehnologieauto.ro has also served the very important purpose of allowing users to book test drives (as TDR and Lead Management is not yet implemented in the Romanian NWP).

New FORD FOCUS

The website structure:

A. Auto technologies - present the Ford dimensions and create buzz around the new Focus

technologies (each technology will be associated with one dimension). We plan to generate an Action taken by the viewer getting a Reaction in the showroom.

B. Endorsers Platform - social media content generation supported by key opinion leaders - generate earned media content

C. Consumer Test Drive - test drive request form - share your opinion - consumer promotion with prizes

www.tehnologieauto.ro Structure

New FORD FOCUS

The dedicated website has three main structural components:

A. FORD technologies- This component presents the most relevant features in each of the four

technological approaches: safe, smart, green and quality- The information is presented comprehensively, with a video for each

technology, presenting the respective features, interconnected with a list of text descriptions detailing the features. A click on the list of features also jumps to the relevant sequence in the video. http://www.tehnologieauto.ro/tehnologie_inteligenta


New FORD FOCUS

B. Endorser-generated contentThe endorsers’ sections contained brief descriptions of the endorsers, as well as feeds from their respective social media channels (Facebook pages, blogs, twitter). The feeds included comments posted on the said channels, but tehnologieauto.ro visitors also had the option of posting comments on-site.

Content in components A and B is interconnected, alowing users to adapt the information flow to their specific interests.


New FORD FOCUS

C. Consumer Test Drive - The website also includes a test drive request form, alowing the

users to book a test drive at the time and dealershop they find most convenient. Test drive requests are forwarded automatically to the selected dealers, alowing them to follow up on the lead.

- During the launch phase, there has also been a contest page, containing a form used by users in order to enter the contest.


New FORD FOCUS

Data capture and consumer contest

Objective: - Create a fresh and relevant data base- Generate leads- Generate showroom traffic

Timing:- 15th of April – 30th of June 2011

Mechanics:1. The consumer could register for a test drive via 3 possible channels:- Online -> a dedicated TDR journey on www.tehnologieauto.ro- Offline (during the caravan activations) -> via iPad test drive application- Offline (at the dealers, in their showrooms, via printed test drive forms)2. After registering for the test drive, the dealers had to call the consumers and

schedule a date when they could take the test drive with the new Ford Focus3. After taking the test drive, the dealer provided the consumer with a card with an

unique alphanumeric code. The consumer had to subscribe to the online contest page and introduce that unique code, as a confirmation that he/she took the test drive.

Prizes: - 20 iPads At the end of the campaign, 20 winners won (lucky draw).

New FORD FOCUS

Consumer contest dedicated page on www.tehnologieauto.ro


New FORD FOCUS

- Communication channels – Ford Romania’s Facebook page, ClubFord.ro, www.ford.ro , eDM, the caravan -> informative flyers regarding the contest and the test drive registration

Promotional/informative flyers for the contest: Contest card with the unique codes:

Informative cards/flyers (distributed via caravan activations):


New FORD FOCUS

Tehnologieauto.ro – traffic resultsTraffic Results:

- The website has been live since 15.04 and remains live as a mean to both provide the consumer with product information and allow the visitors to book test drives.

From April 15th, the live date, and until June 30th, the website (www.tehnologieauto.ro) has had:

- 106,993 Visits- 90,154 Unique Visitors- 224,943 Pageviews- 1:41 minutes Average time spent on site- 2.1 Pages viewed per visit

New FORD FOCUS

Traffic Sources:

66.44% paid media (endorsers, online ads)25.27% direct traffic8.28% organic and paid search engines

Traffic sources:

Direct traffic figures indicate strong awareness

Tehnologieauto.ro – traffic results

New FORD FOCUS

Social media refers to dialogue. Between people, between consumers, brands, influencers, journalists. Social media is about sharing information. It is a free channel to express our thoughts, our feelings, dreams, expectations, values. We share the information with our friends, family, audiences and the ones we care about. And we care a lot about our audience in social media. The audience is the one that gives us the public status.

The new Focus is more than a car. It refers to the Ford philosophy about technology and safety.

Our objective in the pre launch phase is to generate social media content. So, the new Focus brand message should be: Start more than a conversation!

Start more than a car: Start more than a conversation. Start a test drive.

Social media – Local Approach

New FORD FOCUS

Social media – MechanicsCampaign mechanics

• For the new Ford Focus launch we have chosen a new approach of the social media campaign – the presence of 4 Romanian KOLs as endorsers.

• Each of the 4 technologies to communicate (eco, quality, safe, smart) had it’s own endorser.

• The chosen endorsers (Cristian Manafu, Cristina Bazavan, Horia Brenciu, Zoli Toth) had to follow a timing and the steps established in agreement with Ford Romania during the campaign period.

• Each endorser had different tasks co complete, according to their social media channels and offline profile, but all communicated under the same umbrella concept: Start a conversation about the new Ford Focus. Start more than a car.

• They’ve organized contests on their blogs, have written posts and made movies, and also communicated the Ford Focus launch on their personal social media channels (Facebook, personal blog, Youtube, Twitter).

New FORD FOCUS

Social media – Endorsers ApproachThe New Ford Focus endorsers:• Horia Brenciu – representing the QUALITY

technology

Former TV show host, today he is among the most appreciated Romanian jazz-pop singer, with many national and regional tours. Known online for his personal blog, www.horiabrenciu.ro and Facebook Fan page – with a record number of fans: 80,573 fans.

• Cristina Bazavan – endorsing Focus’s SAFETY technology

At the time, editor in chief of TABU magazine. The most influential woman on web in Romania. Frequently involved in social and brand projects and speaker at social media conferences and TEDx Sibiu. Her blog, www.bazavan.ro has 10,000 uniques per month. She has also a Facebook fan page (600 fans), Facebook profile (4,723 friends) and Twitter profile also (4,207 followers).

New FORD FOCUS

Cristian Manafu – communicating the car’s SMART technology

Former business journalist, currently business events manager. One of the most active and influent bloggers in Romania (since 2002) and the person with the highest number of Twitter followers in Romania (9,957 followers). Associated with new media, mobile technology, social media & networks and always involved in the biggest online projects. Has also Facebook profile (3,002 friends) and fan page (1,223 fans) and the blog www.manafu.ro with 15,000 uniques per month.

• Zoli Toth – guest endorser for the ECO technology

The only Earth Hour ambassador in Romania and member of the Sistem music band. Involved in several eco projects like Let`s do it Romania, Earth Hour 2010, he also was a TV presenter for Green Report TV show. Has a new project - a daily eco show called Eco Frecventa for a national radio station. In social media, he has a blog (www.zolitoth.ro), a Facebook Fan Page (2,201 members) and a Twitter account (1,978 followers).

Social media – Endorsers Approach

New FORD FOCUS

Campaign RESULTS

Horia Brenciu (QUALITY TECHNOLOGY)

• 4 blog posts (www.hoariabrenciu.ro - 5,000 uniques)• Banner on blog during all the campaign period• 37 posts on his Facebook fan page (77,857 fans) – 2,841,972 estimated reach*• 2 YouTube videos - 1,025 views

• Special Focus campaign landing tab on his page – 381 visits

• Special contest - Facebook application made especially for Horia Brenciu. The contest was called “A day with Horia Brenciu” – after the name of the prize. We had 1,589 participants that entered to the Facebook application and completed the task. By a certificated lucky-draw we had a female winner that spent a full day with Horia Brenciu.

* The uniques mentioned in the potential reach represents an estimation made by ZeList monitoring service. The estimation is a result of an algorithm which includes shares, likes, clicks on Facebook, blogger's impact in blogosphere, RT on Twitter and number of followers.

Social media – Endorsers Results

New FORD FOCUS

Campaign RESULTS

Cristina Bazavan (SAFE TECHNOLOGY)

• 11 blog posts (www.bazavan.ro – 10,000 uniques/ month) = 130,930 estimated reach*

• 3 blog contests with prizes• 25 posts on her Facebook page + profile (4,660 friends + 1,067 fans) = 143,175

potential reach*• 22 posts on her Twitter profile (5,153 followers) = 146,010 potential reach*• 2 YouTube videos – 1,010 views• Banner on blog during all the campaign period – 703 visits



New FORD FOCUS

Campaign RESULTS

Cristian Manafu (SMART TECHNOLOGY)

• 11 posts on his personal blog (www.manafu.ro – 15,000 uniques/ month) = 235,936 potential reach*• 14 posts on his Facebook page + profile (2,684 friends + 1,087 fans) = 37,484

potential reach*• 21 posts on his Twitter profile (9,650 followers – the person most followed from

Romania) = 238,918 potential reach*• Twitter contest with one prize related to #tehnologieauto – 170 contestants and 270

mentions of #tehnologieauto• 6 YouTube videos (interviews taken during the test drive with the New Ford Focus) =

5,122 views• Banner on blog during all the campaign period – 709 visits



New FORD FOCUS

Campaign RESULTS

Zoli Toth (Pillar ECO)

• 1 post on blog – 3,400 potential reach

• 1 post on his Twitter profile (2,246 followers)

• 1 post on his Facebook page (2,195 fans)

* The unique mentioned in the potential reach represents an estimation made by ZeList monitoring service. The estimation is a result of an algorithm which includes shares, likes, clicks on Facebook, blogger's impact in blogosphere, RT on Twitter and number of followers.


New FORD FOCUS

Endorser’s Blog Banners

Social media -Blog Banners

New FORD FOCUS

BTL – National Caravan

Tease & generate buzz for the pre-launch phase

Arouse interest towards new Focus technologies & style and direct consumers to the dealers’ showrooms. Expose the car where possible.

Test drive registrations -> generate leads (consolidate a new fresh data base)

Generate traffic and test drive registrations on www.tehnologieauto.ro

Generate content for the www.tehnologieauto.ro and owned social media channels

Objectives:

New FORD FOCUS

National Caravan – Timing and Locations

Timing The consumer activation took place over 4 extended weekends (starting

with 16th / 17th of April – 6/7th of May; 2 symultaneous consumer activations per weekend

The activation have covered the busiest period of the day – from noon until

evening (12:00 p.m. – 20:00 p.m.)

Locations The caravan was implemented in 8 cities (Constanta, Iasi, Brasov, Bucuresti

– 2 times, Craiova, Timisoara, Cluj) during 4 weeks.

The location: popular malls - one of the cities’ high-traffic commercial venues

New FORD FOCUS

BTL – National Caravan

New FORD FOCUS

National Caravan Consumer engagement activationThe caravan team: 2 female hostesses and 1 male team leader

General profile: Attractive, well-spoken, able to pleasantly sustain conversation, autoshow host profile

Special outfits: Resembling lab-specific outfits – white coat/suit; very trendy.

Split of activities:- The 2 girls invite people to play/engage with the Ipads applications and

register for a test-drive.

Test drive enlistment carried on by means of iPads with direct access to the form on the website.

Flyers handed to people not having time/inclination to visit the mobile lab. The flyers promote the campaign website and dealers showrooms .

- The male host assists people visiting the lab, provides information on the new Focus, guides the prospect target.

New FORD FOCUS

iPad Application: Quiz + Test Drive data capture form

Number of test drive registrations via the iPad application: 2.567 (16.04.2011 – 08.05.2011)

The iPad application was also used during the B’estfest activation and the number of test drive registrations increased during 01.07 – 03.07.2011, therefore the total number of test drive registrations via the iPad application is: 2.879.

National Caravan Consumer engagement activation

New FORD FOCUS

Campaign Overall Results

PRELAUNCH LAUNCH TOTAL FIGURESwww.ford.ro (trafic to tehnologieauto.ro)4,962 Visits (16.52%) 9.370 Visits (12.07%) 14.332 Visits (13.40%)

www.tehnologieauto.ro (trafic)

30,029 Visits25,935 Unique Visitors65,070 Pageviews



www.tehnologieauto.ro (subscriptions)3457 Test Drive777 Contest

2,866 Test Drive 4,350 Contest

6,323 Test Drive5,127 Contest

CAMPAIGN RESULTS - DIGITAL

Period: April 15th - June 30th

106,993 people visited the site (www.tehnologieauto.ro) with an average of 1.52 minutes per visit and 2.14 pages viewed per visit.

106,993 Visits 90,154 Unique Visitors 224,943 Pageviews

New FORD FOCUS

Campaign Overall Social Media Results

PRELAUNCH < 8th of May LAUNCH > 8th of May TOTAL FIGURES

Pillars (Smart, Eco, Quality, Safe)

Posts on personal blogs (potential reach*) 13 posts (223700 uniques) 14 posts (167727 uniques)27 posts (391427 uniques)

Posts on Facebook (potential reach*) 31 posts (492251 uniques) 47 posts (2224826 uniques)78 posts (2717077 uniques)

Posts on Twitter (potential reach*) 22 posts (169040 uniques) 22 posts (218083 uniques)44 posts(387123 uniques)

Videos on YouTube (total no. of views) 5 videos 4206 views) 3 videos (2068 views)8 videos(6274 views)

Ford Romania Social Media

Posts on Facebook (potential reach**) 32 posts (22300 views) 33 posts (28106 views)65 posts(50406 views)

YouTube Ford Romania Channel (no. of views) 4 videos (7219 views) 2 videos (492 views)6 videos (7719 views)


** The algorithm is the sum of the number of fans that the page had at that time. It is not taken into consideration the possible number of shares.

Campaign Overall Results – social media

New FORD FOCUS

Ford Focus Results – endorsers impact

Horia Brenciu insured exposure based on his celebrity and dynamic optimistic and charismatic personality.

Manafu insured high interest based on his technical masculine recommendation to his followers.

Bazavan insured feminine awareness on the car’s most helpful safety features. They already introduced the new car, satisfying the curiosity and describing the

product benefits. The involvement increased the campaign exposure, product awareness and

test drive submissions, results that we can during the prelaunch and launch period.

Social Media Potential Reach estimation based on an algorithm which includes shares, likes, clicks on Facebook, bloger's impact in blogosphere, RT on Twitter and number of followers.

Prelaunch and launch activities of the 4 endorsers and social media campaign had an estimated reach of 3.560.026 persons

New FORD FOCUS

Ford Focus Results – national caravan impact

The caravan was implemented in 8 cities (Constanta, Iasi, Brasov, Bucuresti – 2 times, Craiova, Timisoara, Cluj) during 4 weeks.

The tunnel exposed the message to more than 18.000 persons that were exposed to the message and invitation to discover the Auto Technologies.

The tunnel brought the Focus technologies closer to the audience and generated brand awareness and interest to discover the new Focus.

The 8 caravan activations generated 3457 test drive registrations.

- 3457 test drive registrations

- 16.000 flyers (all distributed)

- 18.000 persons discover the technologies presented in the tunnel

New FORD FOCUS

Ford Focus Results – overall campaign The site’s name had a high awareness and generated 90,154 Unique Visitors in 1

month and half. The Endorser’s pages have interesting compelling content about the car

attributes and benefits: the wider the endorser’s target- the wider the exposure. Earned media (endorsers, social media etc) and owned media sell well our site,

with 66.44% of the overall traffic.

Direct traffic accounting for 25.27% of the overall figures indicates the strong and memorable message sent to the target audience.

45,000 visitors have spent more than one minute and a half on the site, proof of the consistent, interesting content.

The pre-launch campaign opened the target interest for the new Focus. We can see the results – the test drive registrations and contest registrations grow after the pre-launch campaign.

More than 5 famous Romanian bloggers (top 10 bloggers) were interested to drive the new Focus and asked for the car.

Social media environment and the blogosphere talked about the new Focus for more than a month.

The estimated reach in social media is 3.560.026 persons. These people were exposed to the message from online and offline activities during the whole campaign.

New FORD FOCUS

Thank You!

Fur further details please contact:

Cristina IrodWunderman BucharestGroup Account Directort: 40 21 212 32 28 f: 40 21 210 66 30m: +40 754 021 [email protected]