Ford is bravely entering the world of social media at full speed. To build buzz about their new compact car, the Fiesta, Ford is giving their branding and promotion responsibilities to 100 young web savvy people.

The best part of this plan is that none of these individuals has any advertising experience. They were chosen for their “social vibrancy” rating. Essentially, they were judged by their web presence and popularity – number of online followers and accounts on different social media platforms. They were also judged according to their creativity, film-making skills and ability to retain audience’ attention.

So here’s the deal, Ford is giving each of the 100 people chosen a Ford Fiesta to drive around for six months. They will be asked to document their experience with the car through Youtube videos, blog posts and other social media updates.

We always talk about the key to good and honest marketing is being transparent. Ford is taking this a step farther by not having any censorship over what is said and posted about the Fiesta. This is definitely a make-or-break situation for Ford. They must have thought of this, so Ford must be confident enough in their product to publicize this trial period. And if it goes horribly wrong, Ford still has about a year to redeem themselves before the Fiesta hits U.S. dealers.

Ford, we commend you for the unique grass roots campaign. It’s a great idea and will definitely build buzz and awareness about the Fiesta. For Ford’s sake, hopefully it’s positive buzz.

New Enterprise

Imagine you’re a huge nerd (this may be easier for some of you). Then imagine that you have just entered a movie theater where you expect to see a special screening of Wrath of Khan. You’re pointy ears are in place and your v-neck long-sleeve shirt is as snug as can be. The theater goes dark and what comes on the screen in unfamiliar to you. But that’s impossible; you’ve seen Wrath of Khan well over one hundred times. You know that the movie is of the Star Trek variety. Then suddenly you realize that you are at a special screening of J.J. Abrams’ new enterprise!

This is exactly what happened to some very lucky Star Trek fans on the night of April 6th. The film hits theaters on May 8th, which gives nerds a month to build buzz and collect critical Star Trek reviews.

Reviews of the new film were available online immediately after the screening. Obviously these nerds are just as savvy about the internet as they are about Spock. Reviews were hitting Twitter even before the end credits rolled. And luckily enough for J.J. Abrams everyone loved the film. The theater was filled with smiles and tears of happiness. Here is my favorite blog review of the screening; Incredibly thorough and incredibly entertaining. My favorite part:

“And out of nowhere – I saw SPOCK. I lost it. I’ve seen every other Classic Trek actor in person. I had drinks with Shatner. But I’ve never seen Nimoy in person – and I just started to cry I was so happy. It’s SPOCK! He’s Here! That’s all I could think.”

Here are some more Tweet gems from slashfilm.com:

“I just got back from Star Trek and it was AMAZING. The best Star Trek movie ever. Yes, it even best Wrath of Khan. Believe me.”

“ZOMG!! Just saw the new Star Trek movie and it melted my pants!!!!!”

“My mind = blown Star Trek was AWESOME!”

“Yes, I’m the guy who’s never seen an episode of ST and got to see Star Trek tonight. As a total ST virgin, the movie is incredible.”
To clarify, we at Buzz.io aren’t big Star Trek fans by any means but we are in favor of good social media usage. And boy do those Trekkies know what they’re doing!