Win a Customized 2013 Ford Mustang by Designing It

Ford is offering fans a chance to win their dream Mustang through its new configurator, something that’s sure to drive traffic to the site and encourage ‘Stang fervor.

If everything goes as planned, and it’s likely to, Ford is going to give four Mustangs to contest winners in a game that lasts as many months. Why would the brand do this? Nice as it might be to believe that fan loyalty is the driving force behind the giveaway, it’s as much a clever marketing ploy as anything else.

That’s because contestants can make multiple entries and can stack their creations to have a better shot at taking home the prize. It works like this: you build a mustang on the site and get points based on the parts you choose. After that, it’s time to promote the car through social media. You get more points as more people pay attention to your creation. So what are these points for? You need 1,000 of them to register an entry.

This is where things get interesting. It isn’t limited to someone who works up that point figure and leaves. Instead 2,000 points is two entries and so on. That means you’re going to spend a lot of time racking up points to have any shot at actually winning. Sure, you could enter once, but why wouldn’t you double up?

Here-in lies the marketing genius. Ford says there’s a chance that the winning designs could be considered for production in a limited run. Essentially, the brand is assembling what’s likely to be one of its most dedicated Mustang focus groups for market research – ever.

Don’t misunderstand, though, we’re by no means condemning what could be a chance at a free 2013 Shelby GT500, in fact quite the opposite. We’ll be watching to see what comes of the contest. If you’re a social media king, this could be the competition for you. It starts today and runs through October 7, so don’t waste any time.