Bangalore, June 12, 2013:
Driving through the narrow lanes and traffic of Bangalore, on a hot summer day could have been daunting for five enthusiastic teams – Bangalore Ecodrifters, Bangalore Eco-roadstars, Bangalore Mustangs, Bangalore Odyssey and Bangalore Seek-O-Sport – on a mission.
By participating in the EcoSport Urban Discoveries campaign, these teams are tasked to discover uncommon urban places, which otherwise are tucked away inconspicuously unless one really unearths them. The urban explorers took advantage of the right-sized Ford EcoSport to fulfill their tryst.
Team Bangalore Ecodrifters discovered a several centuries old rock in Turahalli; Bangalore Eco-roadstars found Murthy who now applies his special skills of hand painting posters for temples and schools after the world of celluloid posters shifted to digital printing; Bangalore Mustangs discovered the 1,200-year-old Naganatheshwara Temple; Bangalore Odyssey discovered an all-female Yakshagana troupe who practice the unique drama form that has traditionally been a male domain and Bangalore Seek-O-Sport found the Bangalore Anime Club – a group of costumed comic artists.
Their respective journeys in the EcoSport were peppered with narrow lanes, traffic, people, speed breakers, and of course the heat. But they gladly took on the urban obstacles making good use of EcoSport’s city-friendly attributes. The SUV’s light Electric Power-assisted Steering (EPAS) with its remarkable turning circle of 10.65 meters aided maneuvering through narrow lanes and pedestrians. They could march over unfriendly speed breakers nonchalantly, using the vehicle’s 200 mm ground clearance and beat the 42-degree heat with the automatic climate control.
“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”, said Vinay Piparsania, executive director, Marketing Sales and Service, Ford India.
The campaign, launched on March 1, 2013 by Ford India, had unlocked the first-of-its-kind opportunity for a hundred consumers to drive the urban SUV and share their product experience ahead of the vehicle’s market introduction. Selection of consumers for the drive was be done by a neutral jury.
