Ford Sparks Hispanic Market With Fusion Campaign

Ford is trying to woo Hispanics to its new Fusion mid-sized sedan using an integrated campaign with a musical beat.

The campaign, called “Chispa,” which is Spanish for spark, includes a Spanish-language Web site, an online ad campaign, Spanish-language television and print media buys.

“Every time we researched the Fusion with Hispanic consumers, the idea of ‘chispa’ came through loud and clear,” Dave Rodriguez, Ford multicultural marketing communications manager, said in a statement. “Consumers told us there is a vitality and sensuality to the Fusion, and that’s what we have tried to bring forward in our marketing, especially through music.”

The media buy includes online placements with Yahoo, Batanga, Planeta TV, AOL, and other sites.

Each ad drives traffic to fordenespanol.com, which, in turn, links users to fusionmixer.fordvehicles.com. There, a Web-based “Music Mixer” lets visitors mix their own fusion tunes with a diverse range of music styles. It taps into an underground movement in the Latin music community where DJs mix Latin styles with other genres. The microsite has the look of a music mixer with buttons for 10 styles of music. Users select up-to five riffs and click on the Fusion’s back bumper to listen to, and tweak, their mix.

Ford has utilized extensive interactive marketing in the introduction of the Fusion. Marketing has also included the Fusion Flash Concert series — 11 Web and wireless-promoted concerts that played through the summer and fall. Notification for each show was distributed on mobile phones and over the Web.