Brief:The Castrol Chicken Run is a popular annual event in South Africa – open to the public. Ten teams of two people (driver and navigator) must “race” 1 500 km from Cape Town to Johannesburg – stopping at various towns along the way to complete “amazing race” tasks and accumulate points. It’s a vigorous, 5 day affair, with teams competing for a chance to win a cash prize of R50 000. Our job was to encourage members of the public to enter, in order to ensure there were enough teams to make sure the event was a success – and also to promote general interest in it.

Idea:The Castrol Chicken Run is an all-out, balls to the wall event that pits team against team in a cross country marathon. It’s a test of skill, and of endurance. At the same time, it’s also an incredible amount of fun. We wanted to convey all of this rolled up into one communication to members of the public – to encourage participation in the event, and to promote a buzz around it. To do this, we produced a short, humorous animated film featuring a brave and “ballsy” chicken as the source of inspiration to potential participants who think they might “have what it takes”.Results:As a result of sending this clip out virally, as well as placing it on one of the main sponsors website, the 2007 Castrol Chicken Run attracted nearly double the amount of entry applications than it did the previous year. While the video was up, it received a substantial amount of hits on the sponsor’s site. The video was also posted on youtube (URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53c8SZuzaWU) although it did not receive as many hits as it did compared to when it was featured on the sponsors site.