C4 Cactus Timeline
- Brand
- Citroën
- Year
- 2014
- Objective
- Sales
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Les Gaulois
Objective
Citroën built the game to launch the C4 Cactus in France, turning the model's tagline — that it's 'the car that answers today's questions' — into a playable story timed to the retail rollout. The mechanic doubled as a media hook, pulling traffic from display, social and MSN buys straight into the branded game, and as a sales driver, since the top prize was reserved for people who placed a new C4 Cactus order during the campaign.
Solution
Built for phones and tablets, the game opens on a slingshot: the player drags the C4 Cactus back on a stretchy sling, gauges the pull, and releases it to fly across an illustrated timeline of nine eras, from the Jurassic and Antiquity through the Gold Rush, the Fifties and outer space to the future. Wherever the car lands, a yellow badge reveals how many chances that era is worth in the prize draw, and the player can either lock in the score or let go again for another attempt, though chances don't stack between tries. Locking in a score opens a short entry form and a share screen, and ends with an emailed code that can be redeemed at a Citroën dealership for an instant-win Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.
- 1
Timeline is a promotional slingshot game for the launch of the Citroën C4 Cactus: the car has gotten lost across nine historical eras, from the Jurassic to the Future, and the player's job is to fling it back to today.
- 2
The landing screen lays out the stakes before play: a random-draw prize reimburses the cost of a newly ordered C4 Cactus (up to €24,000), and a separate instant-win track offers one of 500 Samsung Galaxy Tab3 tablets, redeemed in person with a code at a Citroën dealership.
- 3
The core mechanic is a slingshot: the player pulls back a handle, meters the power, and releases it to launch the car down the timeline; each era is marked with a badge showing how many sweepstakes chances it is worth, generally decreasing the further the car travels from the start.
- 4
Releasing the handle plays out as a fast blur-motion animation of the car racing along the ground while the eras scroll past.
- 5
The car comes to rest inside one era, which opens into a full illustrated scene for that period, and the game reports how many sweepstakes chances the throw earned plus the chance at an instant-win tablet.
- 6
Players can retry the throw as many times as they like to land in a different era, though only their last attempt counts since chances from different throws don't stack.
- 7
Banking a result takes the player to a registration form, where they also pick a Citroën dealership via an embedded map to be attached to the draw and receive a unique redemption code by email.
- 8
A final share screen invites the player to post their run to Facebook or Twitter with the campaign hashtag.
- 9
The prize itself is settled offline: the emailed code is used at a Citroën dealership to play the instant-win tablet draw, while the grand-prize refund is drawn among people who ordered a C4 Cactus during the campaign window.
