The Ford Fusion 41 Competition infographic
As part of the advertising behind the Ford Fusion, Ford held a contest with eight teams to break some wacky world records. Tapping into the public interest in infographics, they worked with designer Thomas Porostocky to develop a visual design they could publish.
The Fusion 41 competition amassed a wealth of raw data generated from all of the teams and activities. To bring these numbers to life we handed the database over to designer Thomas Porostocky who spun it into some amazing poster size visuals. Download the PDF to check out the Fusion 41 stats in their full glory.
This infographic has received some criticism on the web, so I thought I would add a few more comments. I love the idea that Ford has taken some wacky, strange and funny statistics and visualized them to make them interesting and approachable by viewers. The results from competitions like “Fastest time to plant a tree”, “Most ‘backseat driving’ comments in 10 seconds” and “Refrigerator magnets stuck to a Ford Fusion” help support the idea that it’s not all serious and the Fusion can be a fun car. I think the statistics behind the competition are very well focused to be humorous and entertaining to the customer profile that Ford is trying to reach. I like the grid and speedometer design portions of the poster a lot.
We’ve told the world that the Ford Fusion is up to and up for any challenge. So we chose eight Fusion drivers and their friends to put the Fusion to the test. Every 41 hours for three weeks we tasked these teams to rack up the most points by completing activities with a 2010 Fusion. During those 3 weeks the teams strove to out-score each other across 12 separate activities. In the end, the team leading in the most Activities walked away with the title of Fusion 41 winner and a Ford Fusion of their own.
I only have two complaints about the infographic myself. First, I don’t like the over-use of bar charts. It reminds me of the pages of bar charts that many corporate reports have that could be replaced by a good infographic. Second, the bright colors used are harsh to the eyes and hard to read.
In December, Ford teamed up with 8 loyal Fusion owners and 4 of their friends to compete in relay challenges that set world records in the 2010 Ford Fusion. Fusion 41 activities included the most turkeys donated to a food bank, most clothes donated to a shelter and most people dancing to the Fusion’s stereo to name a few. The teams had a blast participating in the Fusion 41 program and the results were remarkable!
Take a look and post your thoughts in the comments. What do you think?
