Read on the TGDC blog comments (http://www.greatdrivingchallenge.com/blog)

Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game. These words of Donald Trump now have a meaning that I understand.

This challenge organized by TGDC is not just a life changing event for us participants but also a game changing event for the Marketing Industry. It shows that putting hoardings with hot models is not the only way of getting attention and getting people excited. It has proved that money alone cannot get brands noticed, but creativity alone can.

Being a publisher I am pretty sure that this challenge will become a case study in the 14th South Asian Edition of Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.

Read on Team-BHP Forum (India's hottest destination for Auto Fanatics)

I've been watching the GDC unfold from day one and gotta say : This was BRILLIANT marketing by HM-Mitsubishi. Not once in the past 5 years had so many people visited an HM-Mitsubishi website, or had their brands created such a buzz in the market. I know for a fact that other brands are watching closely and will be coming out with their own in-house versions of the GDC soon. Coming from a manufacturer which has effectively over-slept (while the competition walked all over) was most unexpected. I hope some of this new found vigour rubs off on HM's product planning division (new Lancer, EVO X anyone?).

GTO

Buzzed by a fellow enterpreneur

I must say that Experience Commerce did an immaculate job with TGDC and TGDC is by far one of *the most* exciting online contests that I have ever come across. I think you guys are wonderful and can give your competition (name suppressed) a run for their money.

Another fact that I really admire and appreciate was the way you guys handled all the tantrums that were thrown at TGDC. Shows some real character. I'm certain and positive that Team Experience Commerce will pioneer the Indian online space.

The first phase of our latest campaign " great driving challenge" for Brand Mitsubishi-Cedia, is now over. In just 3 weeks the destination served close to 6M page-views and attracted over 20,000 applicants. The traffic curve shows how EC team leveraged social media, to build a core base of supporters, towards the very beginning of the campaign.

Unlike media led campaigns, where the traffic peaks with bursts of advertisements (online/print/TV), the traffic on greatdrivingchallenge.com shows consistent organic growth. Only social media led campaigns, if successful, show this kind of healthy growth.

In just 3 weeks since launch, the online destination has logged 3M+ page views, and risen fast on Alexa.

Powered dominantly by 'Social Media' and supported by print (some radio & TV), this campaign is certainly a candidate case-study on Internet Marketing in India.  Google ' great driving challenge ' and discover for yourself how the event is being talked about on multiple blogs, forums, facebook, orkut and twitter.

Those of you who are following the success of the Mitsubishi-Cedia campaign "The Great Driving Challenge" (TGDC), here is an interim update. In just 2 weeks since launch, TGDC has garnered over 1Million+ page views and attracted 150K unique visitors. The traffic pattern is very healthy and devoid of any "media-led" spikes.

At EC we always measure our campaigns using the AIV metrics i.e. Adoption (A), Interaction (I) and Velocity (V). With an average of around 10+ page views and time-spent on site hovering around 8 minutes, interaction (I) within the branded destination is very healthy. Many of our partners have asked us how we are doing compared to the (now) world famous Queensland Campaign (Best Job) at http://www.islandreefjob.com/, as both of them are from the same genre.






The viral velocity experienced on this campaign is very good, and only time will tell if this interest level can sustained. Observing  the Queensland campaign, we have learnt that audience interest is likely to wane, once the results are announced. Only time will tell, how the GDC audience behaves.

Another interesting campaign we wanted to benchmark TGDC against is the well known (http://www.jaagore.com). Most people in media are aware of the 'advertising spends' on building awareness around that campaign. What you can see in the screen below are the traffic spikes which have a direct correlation to mainline advertising; this reflects the total lack of stickiness around the 'idea' and the resulting yo-yo curve. GDC is running on its own fuel, with online advertising driving less that 5% of traffic. That is a direct reflection of the power of social media.