This woman is fake! Ford has designed a woman for their latest-generation Fiesta, named Antonella(photo above)! Virtual model Antonella is the personification of a profile created from demographic research about the Fiesta's target customer, said Moray Callum, executive director of Ford Americas design. NY time writes:
"Antonella is an attractive 28-year old woman who lives in Rome. Her life is focused on friends and fun, clubbing and parties. She is also completely imaginary. She was the guiding personality for the Ford Verve, a design study that served as the basis for the latest-generation Fiesta.
A character invented by Ford designers to help them imagine cars better tailored to their intended customers, she embodies a philosophy that guides the company's design studios these days: to design the car, first design the driver...
Invented characters get everyone on the same page," Mr. Callum said. "Personalizing gives context to the information we have. Sometimes the target demographics are difficult to relate to by, say, a 35-year-old male designer.
...Ford's goal in using made-up characters is that they will help produce cars that transcend national traits and are instead built around international
Mind boggling. Guess that's where we should expect research and advertising to finally take us, at least in so far as mass media is concerned.
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