Launch Date:

November 1

Objective:

To launch the 2014 Mazda3, the agency partnered with Cineplex Odeon theatres and Timeplay to create the world’s first dual screen in-cinema driving game that leveraged the mobile accelerometer. The focus on branded engagement of this scale was a first for Mazda Canada, who normally focus on traditional media and activation programs to generate awareness and leads. Their social driving game turned a phone into a wheel, and every seat in the theatre into the driver’s seat for an immersive night race experience.

Insight

Those that experience the superior handling and driving performance of a Mazda are much more likely to buy. The agency’s ultimate goal was to increase real test drive requests in dealerships. For Cineplex and Timeplay, this was an opportunity to evolve their platform and bring the next level of brand engagement into cinemas. The development of a mobile controller, yet untested, needed a brand to champion the project, and Mazda jumped into the gap. They delivered a controller that measured the performance of each player every 200 milliseconds. This allowed for continual scoring and feedback throughout the game. From a content perspective, our challenge was to create an immersive gaming experience for a mass audience. The answer was to create a single big screen visual experience that a mass audience could affect, yet still have independent feedback to increase competition and engagement on each mobile device.

The agency partnered with Topix and IAMSTATIC to develop video sequences of racing footage from both the lead and chase car in a first person perspective, and cutaway footage of the cars in third person perspective at intervals throughout the race. Depending on how the crowd performed, we showed them falling behind or taking the lead in the cutaway portions of the race.

The soundtrack was an integral portion of the big screen experience. The agency partnered with Drastic Music + Technology to record every sound of the 2014 Mazda3 to incorporate into the fastpaced track and sound effects, building on the sound design of the wet road and tunnel environments.

Players were tracked on the big screen and via their mobile devices, and received bonus points for matching the ‘perfect line’ of our hero driver, or vibration feedback to help correct the steering of those who strayed off course. After the race, the Time play app pushed an offer to sign up for a test drive after the race. Their immersive branded experience with a gamification layer played a huge role in the success of the project.

Results:

• Winner activation rates were 50%, the highest achieved by any Timeplay experience (35% for top 10, 28% over all players).
• 8,809 requests for test drives, or 5% of all players--so many we had to disable some functionality after the first week.
• 266% increase in social conversations (10x higher) regarding time play vs. previous innovation initiatives.
• 933 Facebook shares/likes, the highest social engagement achieved by any Timeplay experience.
• Over a quarter million online impressions (266,000) generated over the month of November in Canada.