Ford India Private Limited has been organising the EcoSport Urban Discoveries campaign to create a buzz around domestic buyers for its yet-to-be launched compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) EcoSport. The unique initiative was successfully concluded in Mumbai. Four enthusiastic motor teams, viz. Mumbai Trailblazers, Mumbai Wanderers, Mumbai Vagabonds and Mumbai Boyz participated in the campaign. The aim of the whole event was to explore uncommon urban places in the financial capital of India, which are otherwise not known to the common public. All participating teams went around in the compact sized Ford EcoSport, which helped them drive through narrow and dingy lanes as well as heavy traffic of the city.
First team, Mumbai Boyz, came across a car garage near Lilavati Hospital that was stocked with a range of classic cars. The next team, Mumbai Trailblazers discovered Dharavi idli and vada in the very centre of the Dharavi area of Mumbai. Mumbai Vagabonds were the ones to find the August Kranti Maidan, which happened to be the venue for the historical Quit India Movement. The most unique find of the campaign was the urban farming in the heart of Mumbai by Mumbai Wanderers.
Throughout the event, all four teams were exposed to dingy lanes, crowds, speed breakers and summer heat, which Mumbai is famous for. However, the class leading comfort features and cutting edge technologies used in the EcoSport helped them face the grunt easily. It was a breeze to manoeuvre through narrow roads and traffic owing to the Electric power Assisted Steering (EPAS) and turning circle of 10.65 metres. Endless speed breakers were taken care of by the impressive ground clearance of 200 mm and the summer heat was eliminated by the automatic climate control.
Executive Director of Marketing Sales and Service, Ford India, Vinay Piparsania, quoted, “We thought we should leverage EcoSport Urban Discoveries as a socio-technological tool to take advantage of the vast reach of the internet so that we could tap into India's proverbial method of effective communication, which is word-of-mouth, and this campaign will be an enabler to this kind of engagement.”
This campaign that was initiated by the American car marque on March 1, 2013 allowed customers to get the first hand feel of the vehicle. And the rest was taken care of by the word-of-mouth publicity. Thanks to this unique initiative, the upcoming SUV now enjoys an intense hype and attention in the Indian automotive industry. A panel of neutral jury hand-picked the enthusiasts to take EcoSport for the first drive.
