History Making Mitsubishi Motors' Live Drive Consumer Outreach Creates 5,000 Test Drives and a Guinness World Record
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The world record is the result of MMNA's latest marketing collaboration with creative agency of record, 180 LA. Â The Mitsubishi Live Drive was the World's First Online Test Drive that gave drivers an unprecedented interactive experience to remotely test drive a real 2011 Outlander Sport from the comfort of their own home using the keyboard on their computer and an internet connection.
"We ad people often talk about doing ideas that are world firsts," notes William Gelner, Executive Creative Director at 180 LA. Â "Few can actually say that the Guinness World Records team showed up to witness. This is a huge honor."
In addition to the world record, over an 11-day period that spanned from November 1 to 11, the groundbreaking project encompassed:
- Over 40,000 registrants;
- Nearly 5,000 drivers from all 50 states test drove the vehicle;
- 38 people spent their entire online drive doing donuts; and
- 11 participants chose to enjoy their entire drive in reverse driving backwards.
"With almost 5,000 test drives, this program has gained wide acceptance from our dealer body, consumers, and the general public, not only improving brand awareness, but also driving consumer traffic," noted Gregory Adams, Vice President Marketing for MMNA. Â "The use of this technology is an innovative means of communicating the standout features of the new Outlander Sport. Â Not only has Live Drive helped enhance the brand's perception, but the campaign has enhanced the longheld favorable marriage between technology and our advanced products such as our feature-rich lineup of Lancer vehicles."
MMNA assembled the most talented technology leaders from the automotive engineering, marketing and interactive worlds to make the project possible. Â The project concept was created and led by 180 LA and included interactive partners B-Reel, and world-renowned robotics expert and automotive engineer, Dr. James Brighton (a frequent guest on Mythbusters and Top Gear). Brighton custom-built an in-car robotics system that controlled the steering, gear changes, acceleration and braking while B-Reel created software to connect the automotive robotics using driver input from the Internet. B-Reel created the website that allowed users to remotely test drive the vehicle while MMNA digital agency-of-record Schematic developed the Outlander Sport microsite which drove pre-event buzz and created banner ads to drive online sign-up.
Once in the "driver's seat," participants were able to steer and brake the car in real-time with only their computer keyboard, while taking in the live-streaming view out the front windshield. Â The whole experience was enhanced by audio of the Outlander's revving engine or consumer-selected music tracks. Â To ensure that drivers didn't steer the Outlander out of bounds, the vehicle's whereabouts were constantly tracked using three laser-based GPS systems from Japanese company Topcon.
