Updated: Ford reported their quarterly earnings this morning. The company posted a net loss of $1.4 billion, but results beat expectations. They also reiterated that they do not plan to seek a bridge loan from the U.S. government. Their stock is currently up 15% on the news and had a halo effect on the market.
Ford’s stock has been on a role of late. After the economy blew up last September and the auto industry in the US seems like its on its way to total ruin Ford shareholders have reason to be happy with the stock up nearly 300% since late February.
In a push to keep things rolling Ford is attempting one of the most fantastic marketing and PR experiments involving social media with its Fiesta Movement campaign for its 2011 Ford Fiesta. For “the movement” Ford took applications from over 4,000 individuals who applied to receive their very own Fiesta for six months.
They selected 100 Agents, as they call them, who will be sharing the experiences with the world and completing monthly missions. Gathering content from Flickr, YouTube , Twitter and blogs the Fiesta Movement site is exposing all that the Agents have to share from their missions and experiences.
I saw my first Fiesta in the wild last night while driving south on the 101 near the San Francisco Airport. The car was one of the green ones sporting a Michigan plate and a slim little sticker on the bumper pushing the website for the campaign.
Outside of major malfunction of one of the vehicles resulting in an injury this will be a home run for Ford and will really demonstrate the power of what value can be garnered by fully embracing social media.
