Whether you’re a Manchester United fan, a Barcelona fan, or just love watching football, Ford has come up with an innovative campaign to engage with fans interested in the brand.

The car maker has kicked off a week-long social media campaign in the run-up to the Champion’s League Final at Wembley on Saturday.  Visitors to its stand at the UEFA Champions Festival in Hyde Park can use its Focus Cam technology to recreate their top moments from the tournament – captured in multi-angle photos shot by 40 cameras.  The idea is photos are shared on networking sites.  Focus Cam is being used to highlight the camera technology in the all-new Ford Focus.

Mark Jones, European sponsorship manager explained: “Having real people talk about our products is far more effective than big brands just telling consumers direct.”  A real shift from the traditional advertising model.

It has also broken ranks with tradition with another social media campaign to build awareness around the 2012 Focus.  An anarchic sock puppet called Doug, and his human sidekick John, have been posting and tweeting content and banter from their adventures in the new car.

Digital marketing manager Scott Kelly told Mashable: “Doug is a multi-layered character that’s more fun to get to know in an interactive setting. A 30-second TV spot could never afford us the opportunity to engage with our consumers the way the social channels do”.  The sock puppet, symbolic of the Focus redesign, is the car maker’s ‘license to walk on the wild side’.

The website has described the campaign as Ford’s most risky yet.  But, so far so good.  Since the project started, 41% of the 2012 Focus conversation has been related to Doug and the campaign.   Brand converts have been posting news of new purchases to Doug’s wall.  Some have taken test drives.  But it’s not all about headline-grabbing sales generated by the campaign.  Measuring and analysing quantitative and qualitative information on engagement and sentiment are just as important to Ford.

The campaign shows that proactive consumer engagement through social media can have a measurable and positive impact on your business.