Ford Fiesta's first reveal gets interactive with Fiesta Café

To announce the impending launch of its stylish and modern premium sedan, the all-new Fiesta, Ford India, chose not to take the beaten path.

Realising that the Fiesta is an all-round expansion of the personality of the young and upwardly mobile customer, with its new connectivity and entertainment features, Ford introduced the car at a unique and interactive 'Fiesta Café' - a specially designed pavilion at the Select CITYWALK Mall in Saket, New Delhi.

Inside the café, a 'Fan Wall' using motion recognition beams live social media feeds about the Fiesta. Sonic chairs with integrated speakers invite the customers to sit and grab a cuppa while discussing the new car.

The Fiesta on display at the pavilion has eye-catching design and comfort, rich interiors, steering mounted controls, USB/aux-in connectivity, voice activated control system, Electronic Cruise Control system and mobile-inspired centre console, in addition to basic features and is expected to be a huge attraction among Fiesta enthusiasts.

The consumer research conducted by Ford prior to the Fiesta Cafe launch clearly indicated that its prospect customer visited premium malls frequently.

Therefore, the activation was set up at the Select CITYWALK Mall, mirroring the personality of the prospect customer and the Fiesta. Since the reveal, more than 10,000 people have experienced the car at the Fiesta Cafe.

Nigel Wark, executive director, marketing, sales and service, Ford India, tells afaqs! that the target group (TG) of Fiesta comprises males in the age group of late 20s-early 30s, successful in business, with probably one child, maybe living close to his family for want of own space or to be close enough. They tend to be very open, have very good five-year plans, are successful, but haven't recognised how successful they are. The TG is 'progressive conservative' and 'definitely online'.

On the day of the opening act at the mall, more than 25,000 people viewed the reveal of the Fiesta via live streaming carried out on the Facebook fan page of the Global Fiesta.

It was a conscious decision to live stream on Facebook as consumer research clearly suggested that the TG uses Facebook intensely. This was also done so that people in India get a chance to engage with their peers from across the world who have experienced the Fiesta. A link to the live stream was also hosted on the Ford India website.

Further discussing the Fiesta Café initiative, Wark says, "Last year, we went digital with the Figo and have taken this to the next level with the Fiesta. Digital and social media are not just for fun -- these are used for business purposes, to make life easier and people are always accessing it wherever they may be. This is why we're substantially expanding our activities into the digital space, including the internet and mobile."

He shares that a significant portion of Ford India's total marketing budget is now being focussed on digital marketing initiatives and strategies.

Even the invites for the Fiesta Café took the technology and digital route, where physical invites carried QR (quick recognition) codes. People could scan this code and receive personalised invites as well as more information about the reveal.

Wark admits that having the Fiesta Café up for a few months at the mall in Delhi -- North being an important market for Ford India -- will mean a lot of hard work and manning of five-six promoters present each day. They will answer thousands of questions about the car and its features. He compares it to a showing at an auto expo for an extended period of time. Going by the responses received, the company may or may not decide to take this activity to other metro cities.

While Ford has not yet announced the pricing of the new Fiesta for the Indian market, the new sedan will be built at Ford's Maraimalai Nagar (Chennai) plant and is the first model to be introduced under a plan announced by the company to launch eight new global Ford vehicles in India by the middle of the decade.