News: Big Ideas

The Dodge Treasure Hunt

I’M JUST SAYING. . .

The Dodge Treasure Hunt

By Paul Murray

Thanks to a recently concluded promotion devised by Wieden & Kennedy, wannabe treasure-finders raced across five New England states in search of a free Dodge Journey as they played out a real-life event that might have been taken straight from the movie It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. September 24th marked the third installment of the campaign, which had hidden two vehicles in the West and Midwest over the preceding weekends, both of which had been found and claimed. Dodge had cleverly hidden clues in video on their YouTube channel, and drove traffic through a well-crafted, national TV buy and by cross-pollinating social chatter through both Facebook and Twitter.

By the time the clues for the third prize Dodge Journey were launched, awareness was at fever pitch. Steven Barley, A Director of Internet Services for a Virginia healthcare system, had covered the first two legs of the hunt on his amateur blog, meticulously parsing the stills from the video clues. He had predicted with a high degree of accuracy the locations of the first two prizes, based on geographic analysis. For the third phase, he had pinpointed a precise location within a 25-mile radius, and the audience of the site generally agreed that it would be a mad footrace to the supposedly known location near Ticonderoga, NY.

Trading information
During the week leading up to the third hunt, however, scandal broke out. The finder of the second vehicle turned out to be a police officer who had allegedly assisted with traffic control during the filming of the Midwest clues. He subsequently declined the prize vehicle. Meanwhile, a stylist from the shoot posted photos of the locations she had visited on her Tumblr account, further reinforcing what appeared to be the site of the third prize. Thousands of seekers geared up for the dash to win the Journey, waiting only for the first clue release at noon on the 24th. In preparation, they traded NY/VT ferry information and geographic insights on blogs and Dodge’s social channels. They scoured Google maps and street views. They even trash-talked their competition.

At this point, I should make a small confession. I was one of the zealous prize hunters that felt they knew pretty much just where the location would be. I booked a flight for Burlington, VT and a GPS-equipped Dodge Caravan, and even considered the rental of a satellite phone or charter helicopter to assist in my hunting. I enlisted a friend, a savvy social media and internet research veteran, to partner by working the web clues while I hit the ground. My greatest concern was the sketchy coverage area afforded by my mobile carrier in Vermont. Little did I know.

At noon on Saturday the 24th, Dodge began releasing video clues. They seemingly confirmed everything that had been predicted by the wisdom of the crowds. I began to drive recon through Southern Vermont, hovering at the scant rural oases such as Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonald’s that offered wifi. My partner sifted through geographic analysis and the flood of social chatter. I encountered countless other out-of-state searchers hunched over their laptops and glued to their smartphones, nests of local maps cluttering their cars. The live feed YouTube video showed the Journey hidden in what appeared to be a barn. Take it from me, there are a lot of barns in Vermont.

Something amiss
Only one thing seemed amiss. The video clue progression seemed destined to stop at a radius of 375 miles, a far wider search area than either of the two previous hunts, both of which had narrowed down the final location to less than 25 miles. Dodge promised more clues later that evening. By afternoon, the area I was driving was swarming with hunters. There were reports of speed traps, hurricane-ravaged bridges and a makeshift sign that Dodge had posted indicating that the hunt was just beginning.

In the evening Dodge initiated a slideshow in the YouTube live feed. As the clues continued that night, it suddenly became clear that the clues to the final location now extended well into New Hampshire, perhaps even Maine, likely at an alternative site chosen late in the week due to the original having been so well predicted by crowdsourcing. It was at that point, somewhere around a very foggy 1 am that yours truly called it quits, resolving to catch a flight back to sanity.

The winner was broadcast live late the next day, claiming her prize in a remote northern site in Maine, having followed both online clues as well as a grueling, final battery of real life ones.

The promotion deserves high grades, but as marketers in the digital-social era, we can extrapolate some important tips:

1. Don’t underestimate the wisdom of the crowds. Even in a zero sum game, collaborators will post spoilers online.
2. Have a Plan B. Forced to scramble, Dodge and its agency made numerous mistakes, releasing clues out of order, incorrectly identifying the accurate radius of the final destination at first and even releasing a photo that revealed it had not been taken from a Dodge-branded vehicle.
3. Prepare for crisis PR. The brand’s silence on its Midwestern scandal could have been turned into a positive, transparent touchpoint.
4. Be adaptive. One of the best aspects of this campaign was the live feed where the crew used props (sometimes as red herrings) inspired by the guesses posted on social channels.
5. Include hooks. The immediacy of the live feed was brilliant, but there were also great brand catchphrases that migrated into common parlance, like “the world wide world” and “search engine for the real world.”

In conclusion, this participant returned poorer by $1000 and a karmic debt to an errant opossum, but richer for the experience and the insider’s view of a well-crafted modern promotion.

Paul Murray is executive creative director at Band Digital. His integrated campaigns and design work have been highly acclaimed, with awards ranging from the One Show to the Clios to OMMA.