| Title | BEARDED MAN |
| Brand | FORD SOLLERS HOLDING |
| Product/Service | FORD FOCUS |
| Category |
A07. USE OF SOCIAL IN A MEDIA CAMPAIGN |
|
Media Agency
|
MINDSHARE Moscow, RUSSIA
|
|
Entrant Company
|
MINDSHARE Moscow, RUSSIA
|
|
Media Agency 2
|
MINDSHARE Moscow, RUSSIA
|
Credits
| Alexey Kuryavsky |
Mindshare Russia |
Business Director |
| Anna Planina |
Mindshare Russia |
Digital Account Director |
| Dmitry Tarnovsky |
Mindshare Russia |
New Media Invention Director |
| Kirill Koshenko |
Mindshare Russia |
Social Media Manger |
| Stanislav Bardychev |
Mindshare Russia |
Senior Smm Manager |
| Dmitry Smirnov |
Mindshare Russia |
Creative Director |
| Andrey Rostovcev |
Mindshare Russia |
Senior Special Projects Manager |
| Svetlana Dracheva |
Mindshare Russia |
Partnership Director |
Results and Effectiveness
After almost 3 million unique video views, the Ford Focus became the number-one foreign car brand in Russia among young people. It was no longer seen as a car ‘for old men’. We saw 6% growth in favourable opinions among those who watched our videos. And many people watched them. On Ford Russia’s YouTube channel, weekly viewing of pure video content during the campaign soared by almost 84%. After they watched them, 52% said they liked the Focus. After watching our nine video blogs, 75% said they liked the car.
Creative Execution
Young Russians love YouTube. They also absorb lots of information from Facebook and local social media. So our new brand hero was the face and voice of YouTube video blogs providing branded content that we renewed constantly to share relevant automotive topics and stories with our new, young audience. These video episodes were ‘edutainment.’ We also made nine video blogs containing product placements. As viewers got to know our friendly red-bearded man, they started finding him on social media sites too. He had profiles on Kontakte, Facebook and Odnoklassniki, where he amplified our video blog content. He also integrated content into active Ford communities on social media and began conversations in unbranded automotive communities. Not only had the Focus established contact with young Russians but it was also talking to them. The brand became, suddenly, far more relevant.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea
Ford had dominated the C-segment in Russian car sales for five consecutive years. Suddenly, that changed. We lost customers and market share. Had Russians fallen out of love with Ford? We found we simply weren’t connecting with them anymore. To Russians, we seemed like a big foreign corporation that made cars for old men. Yet we knew that the Ford Focus was an ideal car for the young, 20-something market and that this market offered us a return to growth. The image of the Focus was just not relevant to that young audience. So we created a brand character – the Red Bearded Man – who could talk to this group on their level, where they hang out. We would put him on social media where he could begin a conversation about the great product benefits of the Ford Focus in a light, friendly, easy-to-understand way.