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By Steve Mullins. Ford and Chevrolet have grabbed the top two spots in the 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend study while 2010’s highest-ranked brand, Toyota, fell to fourth in the rankings, after a troubled year. Mercedes-Benz ranked highest among luxury car brands…

By Steve Mullins. Ford has brought back the spokespuppet in the form of Doug, an orange social media furry animal tasked with carrying out social comms for the brand’s 2012 Focus on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Ford is gearing up to launch its Focus Rally: America social media/reality TV show on Hulu in the US in early-February. The format involves sending six teams across the country in the new Ford Focus, and the programme will be hosted by Olympic gold medal winner Jonny Moseley, who recently starred on Skating with the Stars.

As part of the rally, the teams have to solve puzzles and engage in various challenges as they arrive in different cities, using social networks to help them do so. Supporters of the eventual winning team will be entered in a draw for eight Focus models.

Ford Motor Company Australia has launched a new channel on fashion site TheFashionSpot.com. Living Out Loud will promo the new Fiesta on the destination until April next year, bringing things ‘bold and sexy in style, beauty and fashion’ to young Aussie designers, stylists and fashionistas.
The channel will host the TFS Be Bold series, a six-part [...]

Custom cars. Ford is adding a spot of crowdsourcing to the mix in its support for the American Idols TV show. The motor marque is giving the top dozen contestants in the series the opportunity to work with its designers to create their own graphics for the 2010 Ford Fiesta.
The Idols will develop their own personalized Fiesta theme, using color, custom body graphics, wheel treatments and other accessories to make the vehicle an expression of their personalities.

Auto title. Ford and USA Network have launched on online game, White Collar: Chasing The Shadow in which the player fills the role of an FBI trainee tasked with tracking down a criminal while driving the car brand’s Taunus model. Ford says it expects the majority of those playing the new game will come from [...]

Car casting. The Ford Fiesta is set to star in the upcoming US web series If I Can Dream. The 24/7 live show features five Hollywood wannabes doing their stuff in Tinseltown, with viewers able to follow the goings on via a dedicated website, IfICanDream.com. The programme will also go out once a week in a 30-minute slot on the Hulu VOD platform.
The show has been developed by Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment production company which went to Ford to offer the Fiesta a part in the new format.

Special agents. Ford is turning the page on the Fiesta Movement. After generating 6 million YouTube video views, 750,000 Flickr views and close to 4 million tweets from its 100 Fiesta-driving ‘agents’, the campaign is moving on to a second chapter for 2010, with the brand now recruiting city-based teams to complete a series of ‘buzz-worthy’ content to promo the car.
“If you thought Fiesta Movement agents rocked the social media world this past six months, just wait until the second chapter when 20 new agent teams begin spreading the word about the Ford Fiesta,” the brand says.