This campaign created by Ford can be considered a form of advertisement. Typically advertising requires a significant amount of funds in order to reach a wide audience. With the advent of the Internet, and social networking in particular, the cost can be drastically reduces, creating saving and thus economic value. If for example it costs Ford one million dollars to air a commercial for this campaign which was seen by five million individuals, it would be said that the cost to reach each person would be $0.20. Now if it cost twenty-five thousand to reach a million more users on Facebook you could say the economic value would be $175,000 ($0.20 times 1 million then $25,000 subtracted from that total).
Another way the campaign could be creating economic value is if it somehow increased the amount of users downloading vehicle brochure online. If it costs Ford on average $0.50 to print and mail out a sale brochure and two thousand downloads can be attributed to this campaign then it can be said the campaign generated an additional $1,000 in economic value. If a car sold can be attributed to one of these interested individuals than there is potential for even more economic value. It may however be hard to determine if this program can be directly linked to the sale of a car.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how much cheaper the web is when you envision the size of the audience it reaches?
I've always wondered, though -- the feel of a vehicle brochure, the bright pictures, the story established around the car -- can the web really recreate that experience?
What do you think?
Good post!
Joshua, I think you can create a similar experience online as you can with a brochure. Of course, just like books, it'll feel different depending what a person is used to. I think for people who grew up without the Internet it may be preferable to have a brochure. Online though there is so much more information that can be linked and you can even make them interactive.
DeleteHi Joshua, Have you played with Ford's application? I think they've done a good job of being better than a brochure (and it's a bit fun)...
ReplyDeleteNice job Michael.
The comparison of the App to a brochure is one that I made as well. The additional features that the app has brings more interest and awareness of the product that the brochure can't.
ReplyDeleteHowever when calculating the economic value of the app I like that you also included comparisons to a normal advertisement. The viral impact that can be had in Facebook to alert others that they are using the app is also relevant.