Ford Hopes to Lure in Fusion Buyers with Web Based Videos
By JEAN HALLIDAY | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
Photo by Global Autoindex
Ford is promoting the Fusion with Web films and a tour by Norwegian rockers.
This isn't Spinal Tap.
To promote its new Fusion sedan, Ford is airing a "mockumentary" online film series about a band of Norwegian performance artists who would give the Maytag repairman fits. The rock group Hurra Torpedo cranks out cacophonous tunes by smashing clothes dryers, kitchen ranges and what looks like an outboard motor.
By linking with the group, Ford hopes to attract consumers between the ages of 25 and 35 to the Fusion. Ford is sponsoring the three-man band's U.S. tour. The promotion includes an online sweepstakes that will give away the red Fusion SEL the band is driving on the road.
The online films that chronicle the tour are part reality and part fiction. Viewers can watch them at the Web sites
www.thecrushingblow.tv and
www.hurratorpedo.com.
"The episodic story line was created to speak to the target market's irreverent and ironic sense of humor and includes highs and lows of the tour," says Linda Perry-Lube, Ford division's manager of marketing communications.
Ford launched the Crushing Blow Web site and concert tour in late November.
Ford says visitors spend an average of 17 minutes on the site.
According to Ford research, 85 percent of Web users who were surveyed said they found the content of the films very appealing.
Most said they plan to seek more information about Ford. The company says young men are the primary audience for the films.
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