Ford: THE GAME CHANGER

Credits & Description:

Category: Automotive and Transport

Advertiser: FORD INDIA

Product/Service: FORD FIGO

Director of Communications, Asia Pacific and Africa: Whitney Foard Small (Ford Motor Company)

Product Communications Director, Asia Pacific and Africa: Craig von Essen (Ford Motor Company)

Head of Corporate Communications: Deeptie Sethi (Ford India)

Multimedia & Digital Communications Manager, Asia Pacific and Africa Content Factory: Reha A. Alev (Ford Motor Company)

Corporate Communications: Sushant Balsekhar (Ford India)

Industrial Co-ordinator: Swetha Balakrishnan (Ford India)

Corporate Communications: James Anthony Richard (Ford India)

Managing Director, Client Service & Business Development, Asia Pacific: Clancey Houston (Burson Marsteller)

President, Public Relations: Nikhil Dey (Genesis Burson Marsteller)

Digital Strategist: Palin Ningthoujam (Genesis Burson Marsteller)

Sr. Consulting Associate: Kapil Sharma (Genesis Burson Marsteller)

Manager, Region (Ford APA), Asia Pacific: BodhiSatya Basu Thakur (Burson Marsteller)

Senior Associate: Nitya Krishnamurthy (Genesis Burson Marsteller)

Assistant Manager, Communication Strategy & Content: Rohini Kapur (Puretech Internet)

Digital Marketing: Saahil Kalvani (Puretech Internet)

Project Lead, Web: Gurpreet Bumrah (Puretech Internet)

Head, Web Solutions: Swapnil Agaskar (Puretech Internet)

Practice Lead, Digital Marketing: Kamaljit Saini (Puretech Internet)

Head, Social Media Marketing: Ashok Hegde (Puretech Internet)

Account Director: Paras Johar (JWT)

Manager: Aruna Narsi (JWT)

Media placement: Press Release/Press Meet - Launch - Auto Bils, Auto Car, Strategist, Hindustan Times, Economic Times, Business Stand - 9th March 2010

Media placement: Test drives - Reviews - Overdrive, Topgear, BS Motoring, Financial Express, outlook Money, AutoX - April 2010 Onwards

Media placement: Test Cars - Travellouge - Femina, Man's World, Gadgets and Gismos, Dream Carz - May 2010 Onwards

Media placement: Campaign - Discover Smart Drive - National - Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagarn, Punjab Kesari Times of India, Financial World, In - 5th October - 2nd November 201

Media placement: Press Release - Indian Car of the Year - Auto Bild, CarIndia, HT City, HT Café, Asian age, Deccan Chronicle - 15th December 2010

Media placement: Campaign - Discover Smart Drive - Kerala - Andhra Prabha Andra Jyoti, Business Standard, Malayalam Manorama, Kerala Kaumud - 21st - 24th January 2011

Media placement: Campaign - Discover Smart Drive - Gujarat - Gujarat Vaibahv, Jansansar, Business, standarad, Indian express, Sambhav Metro , - 16th - 19th February 2011

Media placement: Press Release/Press Meet - Figo Anniversary - Business Standard, Financial express, Hindustan Times, Amar Ujala, Indian Expres - 9th March 2011

Media placement: Campaign - Discover Smart Drive - Punjab - Amar Ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, Punjab Kesari, Financial World, Hindustan Times - 14th - 18th March



Summary of the Campaign

Despite an uphill task of carving its presence in the overcrowded and competitive small car segment, Ford was determined to create a bang with the launch of its first small car – Figo!



Ford’s new consumer for Figo, was the face of modern India - young and tech-savvy. Ambitious yet pragmatic. Through an integrated path of engagement - from high engagement digital campaigns including a pan-India drive with young couples, to traditional methods involving test-drives, and technology sessions. Figo made a huge impact not only on its target audience but across the country!



Even before the launch, Ford managed to connect with half a million consumers, courtesy its micro-site. The Figo launch events were attended by more than 800 journalists and bloggers across 15 cities helping it achieve 10,000 bookings in its first month and 25,000 in just 100 days!



By February 2011, Figo had achieved over 40,000 fans on Facebook; not to miss the triple digit growth for Ford India with over 80,000 proud owners. 'Indian Car of the Year 2011 [iCOTY]' notwithstanding, Figo also became the most awarded car ever with over 20 top auto excellence awards in Indian automotive history.



The Situation



In March 2010, Ford India launched its first sub compact car, Ford Figo. Until then, Ford did not have any small car in its portfolio in India, and had no experience in the segment that constitutes 70% of the Indian passenger car market.



Consumers perceived Ford vehicles as ones with high cost of ownership, low fuel efficiency and poor after-sales service. Media on the other hand considered it as an 'old' player, that despite having a long history, lacked a strong portfolio and was significantly falling behind in India. On the whole, Ford was not considered a brand of choice.



The Goal

With an arduous task at hand, the goal was to successfully engage with a new set of customers, and move the needle on purchase consideration by launching Figo as a substantial offering from Ford. Since Figo would be pitted against a formidable competition set, the excitement built and sustained around the Figo had to be measurable both in terms of perception as well as business.



Most importantly, the campaign had to address the deep-rooted negative perception of the company among consumers and the media, thereby creating a positive game-changing story for Ford in India.



The Strategy

Inform, Educate & Influence: It was important to engage with influencers early on - media, auto experts, bloggers, & dealers - and highlight not only the finer aspects of the car but also create awareness about its service experience and cost of ownership. Opening 28 dealerships on a single day across India gave it a head start!



Driving experience to strengthen advocates: Ford Figo was positioned as a world-class product solely manufactured in India for the Indian consumer. With regular experiential drives – across media, influencers and consumers – the strategy continued to cultivate positive word-of-mouth and fans for Figo!



Continuing to connect: Ford chose to broaden its approach with the audience with a pre-launch campaign that was designed in a way that it did not place the 'car at the centre' but revolved around the audience and his daily life – communicating benefits rather than attributes.



Execution

The information and influencing started with a first of its kind offsite – bringing the best of India’s 'auto' minds together to introduce Figo & its technology/design differentiators.



For consumers, Ford launched a series of 12 webisodes on an unbranded website, WhyIsthisManSmiling.com, around the adventures of an animated character called 'Smiley Raj' – strikingly similar to Figo’s target consumer. Apart from active engagement with media, Ford sustained the momentum through experiential drives and lifestyle placements both in Tier I and II cities. Contests for bloggers and lifestyle placements sustained feature stories around the Figo than just reviews.



Creating a perfect harmony between traditional and non traditional media, the Ford Figo Discover Smart Drive had four young couples documenting their 2,500 KM journey across media channels.



Creating a 360 degree impact, the sustained communications strategy since its launch resulted in energizing the dealer, employee and consumers community.



Documented Results

- Ford Figo continued to be amongst top No.2 in terms of share of voice against competition

- Ford Figo received more than 1,100 stories in national newspapers, magazines, and blogs

- Figo digital engagement drove over half a million visitors to whyisthismansmiling.com and 10,000 conversations around Discover Smart Drive

- Over 15,000 seconds of non-paid traceable electronic coverage across TV networks within 11 months of its launch



Business impact of the campaign:

- Ford Figo achieved 10,000 bookings in just one month of the launch, went to become second fastest to reach the 50,000 production milestone, doing it in just six months

- By February 2011, Ford had sold 80,000 Figo cars making it the best sales year for Ford in India

- Having become the most awarded car ever in India, Figo got international acclaim with exports planned to over 50 countries – making it truly global Ford product from India!