Go to main content
Harvard Business School
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions

Faculty & Research

  • HOME
  • FACULTY
  • RESEARCH
    • Global Research Centers
    • HBS Case Collection
    • HBS Case Development
    • Initiatives & Projects
    • Publications
    • Research Associate (RA) Positions
    • Research Services
    • Seminars & Conferences
    Close
  • FEATURED TOPICS
    • Business and Environment
    • Business History
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Globalization
    • Health Care
    • Human Behavior and Decision-Making
    • Leadership
    • Social Enterprise
    • Technology and Innovation
    Close
  • ACADEMIC UNITS
    • Accounting and Management
    • Business, Government and the International Economy
    • Entrepreneurial Management
    • Finance
    • General Management
    • Marketing
    • Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
    • Organizational Behavior
    • Strategy
    • Technology and Operations Management
    Close

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2011 (Revised December 2012)

The Ford Fiesta

by John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

  • Print
  • Email

Abstract

Executives at Ford wondered if social media could be the marketing solution for the launch of the youth-oriented 2010 Fiesta. But with social media came a ceding of control. Some at the company believed that if Ford was going to move beyond its conservative brand image for the launch of the new subcompact chances had to be taken. Others erred on the side of caution. Chantel Lenard, Ford's Group Marketing Manager for Global Small Car and Midsize Vehicles and Connie Fontaine, Manager of Brand Content and Alliances championed a new approach for the new vehicle and set into motion a comprehensive 6-month social media initiative targeting a younger, ethnically diverse, and urban-based market, called "The Fiesta Movement". In doing so, a large portion of the marketing campaign was handed over to 20 and 30-somethings across America, and Ford had to acclimate to a new way of doing marketing. To what extent should the company guide the activities and messages of their army of bloggers? The case is set two months into the Movement, as the team evaluates the metrics from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and their website, and wonder if they're doing everything they need to do in order to make the Fiesta a success with a new target market.

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Online Advertising; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Standards; Auto Industry;

Language: English Format: Print 22 pages EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "The Ford Fiesta." Harvard Business School Case 511-117, February 2011. (Revised December 2012.) (request a courtesy copy.)

Related Work

  1. Supplement | HBS Case Collection | March 2013

    The Ford Fiesta

    John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

    Keywords: Ford; Chantel Lenard; Ford Fiesta;

    Citation:

    Deighton, John A., and Leora Kornfeld. "The Ford Fiesta." Harvard Business School Video Supplement 513-704, March 2013.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related
  2. Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | April 2013

    The Ford Fiesta (TN)

    John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

    Citation:

    Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "The Ford Fiesta (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 513-092, April 2013.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related
  3. Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2011 (Revised December 2012)

    The Ford Fiesta

    John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

    Executives at Ford wondered if social media could be the marketing solution for the launch of the youth-oriented 2010 Fiesta. But with social media came a ceding of control. Some at the company believed that if Ford was going to move beyond its conservative brand image for the launch of the new subcompact chances had to be taken. Others erred on the side of caution. Chantel Lenard, Ford's Group Marketing Manager for Global Small Car and Midsize Vehicles and Connie Fontaine, Manager of Brand Content and Alliances championed a new approach for the new vehicle and set into motion a comprehensive 6-month social media initiative targeting a younger, ethnically diverse, and urban-based market, called "The Fiesta Movement". In doing so, a large portion of the marketing campaign was handed over to 20 and 30-somethings across America, and Ford had to acclimate to a new way of doing marketing. To what extent should the company guide the activities and messages of their army of bloggers? The case is set two months into the Movement, as the team evaluates the metrics from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and their website, and wonder if they're doing everything they need to do in order to make the Fiesta a success with a new target market.

    Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Online Advertising; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Standards; Auto Industry;

    Citation:

    Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "The Ford Fiesta." Harvard Business School Case 511-117, February 2011. (Revised December 2012.) (request a courtesy copy.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related

About the Author

Photo
John A. Deighton

View Profile »
View Publications »

 

More from the Author

  • Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018 (Revised January 2019)

    The Financial Crisis: Timothy Geithner and the Stress Tests

    Samuel G. Hanson, Robin Greenwood, David Scharfstein and Adi Sunderam

    In February and March 2009, the U.S. economy was in the midst of a terrifying financial and economic crisis. Between the beginning of 2008 and early 2009, four of the 25 largest U.S. financial institutions had failed, and nine of these 25 institutions had taken extraordinary steps to avoid failure—either receiving one-off government support, merging with another firm, or submitting to heightened regulation to qualify for future government support. Led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the government had to quickly devise policies to stabilize the financial system and the economy. The case explores the details of policies, and the decision making process that led to them, that Geithner and his team devised under immense time pressure to stabilize the system. The case features an extended discussion of Geithner’s innovative “stress test,” which would reveal the longer-term health of the country’s largest banks.

    Keywords: bailout; regulation; Stress Test; Financial Crisis; History; Economy; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States;

    Citation:

    Hanson, Samuel G., Robin Greenwood, David Scharfstein, and Adi Sunderam. "The Financial Crisis: Timothy Geithner and the Stress Tests." Harvard Business School Case 219-038, October 2018. (Revised January 2019.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related
  • Article | Consumption, Markets & Culture | 2019

    Big Data

    John A. Deighton

    Big data is defined and distinguished from a mere moment in the “ancient quest to measure.” Specific discontinuities in the practice of information science are identified that, the paper argues, have large consequences for the social order. The infrastructure that runs on big data is described as diffusing with unprecedented speed but as being difficult to analyze and critique, and, therefore, the designers of society’s big data infrastructure, whether human or machines, play an unacknowledged legislative function of great consequence.

    Keywords: big data; digital infrastructure; privacy; algorithm; data generators; marketplace icon; Data and Data Sets; Infrastructure; Power and Influence; Society;

    Citation:

    Deighton, John A. "Big Data." Consumption, Markets & Culture 22, no. 1 (2019): 68–73.  View Details
    CiteView Details Read Now Related
  • Article | Journal of Financial Economics | January 2019

    Bubbles for Fama

    Robin Greenwood, Andrei Shleifer and Yang You

    We evaluate Eugene Fama's claim that stock prices do not exhibit price bubbles. Based on U.S. industry returns 1926–2014 and international sector returns 1985–2014, we present four findings: (1) Fama is correct in that a sharp price increase of an industry portfolio does not, on average, predict unusually low returns going forward; (2) such sharp price increases predict a substantially heightened probability of a crash; (3) attributes of the price run-up, including volatility, turnover, issuance, and the price path of the run-up, can all help forecast an eventual crash and future returns; and (4) some of these characteristics can help investors earn superior returns by timing the bubble. Results hold similarly in U.S. and international samples.

    Keywords: bubble; market efficiency; predictability; Price Bubble; Stocks; Price; Forecasting and Prediction;

    Citation:

    Greenwood, Robin, Andrei Shleifer, and Yang You. "Bubbles for Fama." Journal of Financial Economics 131, no. 1 (January 2019): 20–43. (Revised October 2017. Internet Appendix Here.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsFind at Harvard Related
ǁ
Campus Map
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→ Map & Directions
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
  • HBS Facebook
  • Alumni Facebook
  • Executive Education Facebook
  • Michael Porter Facebook
  • Working Knowledge Facebook
  • HBS Twitter
  • Executive Education Twitter
  • HBS Alumni Twitter
  • Michael Porter Twitter
  • Recruiting Twitter
  • Rock Center Twitter
  • Working Knowledge Twitter
  • Jobs Twitter
  • HBS Youtube
  • Michael Porter Youtube
  • Executive Education Youtube
  • HBS Linkedin
  • Alumni Linkedin
  • Executive Education Linkedin
  • MBA Linkedin
  • Linkedin
  • HBS Instagram
  • Alumni Instagram
  • Executive Education Instagram
  • Michael Porter Instagram
  • HBS iTunes
  • Executive Education iTunes
  • HBS Tumblr
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College