L.A. Auto Show: Ford’s Facebook competition -- your name on a performance Mustang

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Ford ramped up its social media campaigns on the first day of public viewing at the L.A. Auto Show Friday with a competition to name a performance Ford Mustang unveiled on Facebook.

Blue Oval’s campaign gives Mustang fans a chance to stamp their own name on a performance package essentially borrowed from its GT model.

Members of the public can submit their names at the Ford display at the Convention Center. Suggestions posted at the Mustang’s Facebook page will be voted on by fans of the page and a winner selected in mid-December. The prize is a two-year lease of the upgraded Mustang and the bragging rights to having named it.

Ford said the performance package combines a lightweight 305-horsepower all-aluminum V6, a 3:31 performance rear axle and GT-based suspension and upgraded brakes, wheels and tires.

“We’re utilizing the power of social media to not only talk about what a fantastic package this is, but to also let Mustang fans across the country share a piece of it,” Brian McClary, Ford social and emerging media specialist, said in a release. “It’s a nontraditional approach to naming a piece of brand that millions of people identify with.”

Ford’s Mustang Facebook page has just under a million followers.

-- Craig Howie

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