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In February 1977, Don't Cry For Me Argentina was at number one. On its own, history would judge this as a pretty unremarkable month, except for the fact that it also saw the UK launch of one of Britain's best-loved cars - the Ford Fiesta. Priced at under £3,000, its distinctive look and rally-like performance made it an instant bestseller. It took less than three years for the first million to be sold and the Fiesta went on to become the top selling car every year to 1982.

All heydays, however, come to an end. Other Ford brands, such as the Escort, have come and gone, and while the Fiesta brand is still very much alive (in 2001 it was the top selling car in the supermini sector, with sales of 98,221, up seven per cent on 2000) today it has a much harder task to stay on top against newer and, some might argue, more exciting rivals.

Ford is lucky because the Fiesta is established, but constrained as this same heritage has the potential to weigh it down. Both these factors were uppermost in the marketers' minds when a 'new' Fiesta launched in 2002. Direct marketing was key to Fiesta then and, as a new campaign launched in March shows, it still is today.

Responsible for the brand is Fiesta brand manager Jacquie Pavitt, who looks after ATL and BTL marketing. All cars are marketed according to their product group, with Pavitt heading the 'small car' team, which also includes the Fusion and Ka brands. Despite this, each marque has its own brand identity under the 'Designed for living, engineered for life' corporate slogan.

"Fiesta is targeted at the 25-35-year-old age range, so we need to appeal to a youth market but without ruining its sense of nostalgia," says Pavitt. To solve this, she uses as many different channels as possible but in a way that marries offline and online direct marketing harmoniously. "Our approach includes inserts, postcards, SMS and emails," she adds. "We take all of our CRM and lead management data very seriously."

The common theme in all Pavitt's work is targeting cold prospects - those who fit the bill but don't yet own or wouldn't necessarily think of buying the car.

"Last year, we did a lot of online work, targeting women's websites such as Glamour and handbag.com," she says. Alongside this was a DM piece that went to a mixture of prospects (sourced from various lists) and those who had already enquired or registered on the Ford site. The teaser mailer included a CD with games, wallpaper and screensavers as well as a reply element to win a holiday.

Pavitt says response was "phenomenal". Agency Wunderman Automotive is briefed with all online creative and CRM work, with online buying by M-One. For the actual launch of the new Fiesta, the agency famously produced an almost life-size poster of a fridge, replete with magnets and removeable Post-Its with different response items.

Fiesta puts a high value on creativity and this is equally as evident in its latest piece. In March, the 'Five have more fun' mailer went to 50,000 prospects, which comprised a hardback book mocked up to resemble a Famous Five story book, swapping Enid Blyton's children for five friends having an adventure in their Fiesta. Authentically illustrated and copy-written, it is a DM innovation - using long lead times for the printer and clever paper work to produce something that costs only a fraction more than the average mailer, but with the impression it's very expensive.

Pavitt says it is deliberately daring: "The brief said stand-out. We weren't expecting what they came back with, but it shows our positioning of trying to mix heritage with a young audience."

Feedback is positive - and empirically backed. For each campaign, Ford talks to a random five per cent of the responding segment. "People have been telling us this is the best piece of DM they've ever received," she says.

And prospects should be seeing more of the same. DM spend is rising and unless she has more specific consumer preference data to the contrary, Pavitt admits she "never gives up" on a prospect. If the next 100 years of Ford is based on this, it can look to the road ahead with some confidence.

VITAL STATISTICS
Name: Ford Motor Company (UK)
Turnover: £4.9bn - UK (2002)
Direct marketing spend: £22m (GB)
Agency: Wunderman Automotive

ON THE SPOT

Jacquie Pavitt, Fiesta brand manager, Ford

Do you open all of your direct mail?

No. A lot of it goes in the bin. It has to work hard to convert my cynical side to my inquisitive side.

What do you tell people you do at parties?

I tell them that I go home early from parties because there's a national shortage of babysitters.

If you could send anyone a piece of DM what would it be and to whom would you send it?

My mum's phone number to Robert Redford.

What one piece of advice would you give when embarking on a DM campaign?

Create work that your target will want to tell their friends about.