Networking the Ford Fiesta

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Maybe they should’ve called it the Ford Facebook.

Ford is a planning an elaborate marketing strategy around the introduction of its new Ford Fiesta compact, one of several fuel-efficient cars the automaker plans to bring to these shores in the near future. The Fiesta has garnered some good reviews in Europe, where it went on sale last August.

The Fiesta isn’t expected to reach U.S. showrooms until 2010, but Ford is shipping German-made copies of the two-door hatchbacks to America as we speak. They will be doled out to 100 “specially selected people” who will drive the cars around and then report their experience on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Flickr.

Ford calls this the “Fiesta Movement,” and says it’s aimed at a group called Millennials — marketing-speak for folks born between 1979 and 1995 who will make up the largest single cohort of drivers by 2010 (28%, for you Boomers keeping score at home).

The automaker is accepting online applications for the Movement until March 13. To get the viral marketing thing going, wanna-be Fiesta testers have to make their case in a short video posted on YouTube. Further details can be found at www.fiestamovement.com.

Ford rightly notes that social-networking sites — and user-generated reviews in general — have become a crucial avenue for reaching younger consumers. That generation can be a finicky bunch, however, if something smells a little too much like teen spirit.

-- Martin Zimmerman