Mazda Drives into Cities with Zoom-Zoom Live Tour
Nearly 50,000 car lovers are expected to take to the tracks in coming months in a Mazda vehicle as part of the automaker’s 10-city Zoom-Zoom Live Tour.
The tour, in its second year, kicked off Aug. 12 in Washington, DC. There, consumers blazed around four different off-road courses in Mazda vehicles. Consumers register for the free event at ZoomZoomLive.com.
Attendees experience four driving challenges and compete against the clock for points and prizes. On a Target Hunt course, drivers attempt to pilot CX-7 SUV within a predetermined time range and hit specific targets for a chance to win prizes. Drivers can also try for their best time on a Matched Time Gymkhana Course. Prizes for best times and performance are awarded throughout the day.
Irvine, CA-based Mazda will use the tour to promote its Mazda Speed6, MX-5 and RX-8 sports cars.
“The Zoom-Zoom Live Tour is a great way to showcase our product line and to allow consumers to experience the true meaning of Zoom Zoom,” said Mazda’s marketing director Bill Gordon in a statement.
The tour will visit Boston, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco before wrapping up in Los Angeles Oct. 28-29.
Interest in last year’s events was largely generated by word-of-mouth and Internet buzz, culminating in more than 340,000 visits to the ZoomZoomLive.com Web site.
In a separate initiative, Mazda has partnered with graphic novel publisher Top Cow Productions to have its vehicles integrated in the story line of Top Cow’s new Revved novel. The first book in the Revved series debuted at the Comic-Con International show in San Diego last month.
The series will feature the Mazda RX-8 sports car as the hero car driven by the main character, Jack James. Consumers can catch a preview of the first 10 pages of Revved: The Beginning at MazdaUSA.com/revved.
Top Cow brought the Revved idea to Mazda with a broad treatment of what the story line was “and how our product could be integrated in a non-intrusive, natural way,” Gordon said. The novel “has been created with a following for a younger audience which Mazda has an appeal to,” he added.
Revved will be available in major bookstores including Barnes & Noble and Borders. In addition, the series is being developed by Fox Television Studios as a brand integrated property for television, the Internet and other distribution channels.
Mazda North American Operations is a subsidiary of Ford. Jackson-Dawson Marketing Solutions, Greenville, SC, handles the tour. E-mail blasts to Mazda consumers support.
