Surprising Drives
Open the game- Brand
- Mazda
- Year
- 2013
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- JWT London
- With
- Monks
Objective
Mazda UK built the campaign to launch its sixth-generation lineup (Mazda6, CX-5, MX-5) and turn the standard dealer test drive into something worth talking about. Marketing director Claire Andrews argued that routine test drives undersold both the cars and the brand's "Defy Convention" stance, so the campaign needed to make the experience itself feel like an event. It was also aimed at drivers who'd never considered Mazda, using a familiar arcade mechanic to pull them in and send them into UK showrooms.
Solution
You start by picking a colour, each tied to a prize trip — Italy, Norway or Los Angeles. That choice drops you into a claw-machine scene dressed up as a car factory, where you take the controls of a mechanical arm instead of a claw. You steer it over the matching coloured ball and try to grab and lift it before time runs out. Land the grab and you win the trip; miss it and you're offered an "unconventional" test drive at a Mazda dealer in the UK instead. The same game ran on mazda.co.uk, on Mazda UK's Facebook page, on mobile, and on screens inside dealer showrooms.
- 1
"Surprising Drives" runs as an online contest reachable from the Mazda UK website, the Mazda UK Facebook page, mobile devices, and screens in Mazda dealer showrooms across the UK, inviting players to play for a chance at an "unusual test drive."
- 2
The game presents a car-factory scene: a mechanical arm poised above a pile of colored balls, styled as an arcade claw machine.
- 3
Before playing, the player chooses which prize to pursue, since each ball color is tied to one of three overseas trip destinations — Italy, Norway, or Los Angeles.
- 4
Using pointing and grabbing controls on desktop, tablet, or phone, the player steers the claw and tries to snatch and hold a ball in the chosen color.
- 5
Holding the ball wins the matching trip: Norway's Atlantic Road and fjords in a Mazda CX-5, a five-day Los Angeles trip including a dried-up riverbed in a Mazda6, or an Italy drive from Monza to Florence over the 60-hairpin Stelvio Pass in a Mazda MX-5, with flights, hotel, meals, and fuel covered for two.
- 6
Failing to hold the ball doesn't lead to a dead end; instead the player is offered a local "unusual test drive" — an invitation to book a Mazda6, CX-5, or MX-5 test drive with a nearby UK dealer.
- 7
Taking that dealer test drive in August 2013 entered participants in a separate offline draw for 140 UK-based unusual test drives, including track sessions at circuits such as Croft, Donington, Silverstone, Castle Combe, and Kirkistown, and trips to venues like Gleneagles and Goodwood.
- 8
Running alongside the game, a weekly prize layer gave eight winners a Mazda6, CX-5, or MX-5 to use for a week.
