Escape Routes
- Brand
- Ford
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Racing & Sports
- Platform
- Social
- Agency
- Rokkan
Objective
Ford used the Escape Routes reality format to launch the redesigned 2013 Escape and pull in a young, non-traditional SUV audience — Forbes named twenty-somethings as the primary target. Pairing the NBC broadcast with a live, participatory website let Ford turn passive viewers into active players who could sway the competition in real time, raising the bar set by its earlier, online-only series Focus Rally.
Solution
Fans register at EscapeRoutes.com and pick one of six two-person teams to root for all season. Every Saturday at 8pm ET, as the episode airs on NBC, the site runs live video from the teams' lofts and cars alongside a Twitter and Facebook feed, so players can watch and chat in real time. Scheduled and surprise challenges break out during and between episodes, and players help their team crack clues and puzzles by tweeting a unique hashtag or dropping tips in the Facebook comments. Staying active and bringing in friends earns points and badges that raise a player's own odds of winning a prize, and on Sundays the story continues with GameStream, a live video after-show hosted by iJustine.
Results
EscapeRoutes.com drew 30,000+ registered players, 549,675 unique visitors, 342,336 site visits and 3,162,312 pageviews. The campaign added 25,000+ new likes to Ford Escape's Facebook page and generated 63,834,913 impressions there, plus 3,471 new organic Twitter followers and 31,000+ tweets on #escaperoutes; the premiere alone drove 16 million Twitter impressions. Companion video content reached 69,676 YouTube views.
- 1
Ahead of the season premiere, the public votes to cast the show itself, choosing which six two-person teams will compete.
- 2
The player registers on EscapeRoutes.com from desktop, tablet, or smartphone, then picks one of six color-coded teams to follow for the season.
- 3
Each Saturday the player watches the NBC broadcast (or the mun2 replay) with the site open alongside it, following live video feeds from inside the teams' lofts and their Ford Escape SUVs, and messaging teams and other players through Twitter, Facebook, and built-in chat while cameras are live.
- 4
Scheduled and surprise challenges post to Twitter and Facebook throughout the episode; the player helps their team solve them, tweeting a task's hashtag or leaving hints in Facebook comments for quizzes, trivia, and stunt-based assignments.
- 5
Recruiting friends, staying active and loyal, commenting, voting on team videos, and uploading content all earn points, which unlock badges and raise the player's level.
- 6
Enough accumulated points grant access to help the team directly in that week's interactive challenge.
- 7
The day after each broadcast, the player can join GameStream, a web-only live video-chat game show hosted by iJustine.
- 8
Higher badge and point thresholds raise the player's odds of winning prizes like trips, cameras, bikes, gadgets, and a Ford vehicle; the season ends May 5 with the winning team taking $100,000 and two Ford Escapes.
