Branded entertainment in the U.S. is well entrenched in the marketing/advertising industry as large to small brands are converting media and production resources to aggressively engage and entertain target consumers in non-traditional ways. Consequently, the clutter surrounding branded entertainment has increased dramatically in all channels with the most activity in the digital space; making it difficult for brands to break out. There are no significant restrictions or regulations in this market that would impair the ability of a brand to create and distribute branded entertainment content.

Our challenge was to create a sequel to Pepsi MAX's successful "Test Drive" video that was just as engaging and entertaining as the original without being repetitive. On the Internet, everyone is a critic. We found the most vociferous critic of the original video, an automotive journalist named Travis, and convinced his editors to send him on a fake story down in Charlotte. We disguised Jeff Gordon as an ex-convict cab driver who picks up Travis, gets pulled over by the police and escapes into a hair-raising car chase, the authenticity of which Travis will never be able to question.

'Test Drive 2' has been viewed over 14.9 million times on YouTube (Google/YouTube). The video was embedded in over 17,000+ tweets (Twitter/Mashable) and over 556,000+ times on Facebook (Facebook/Mashable) in its first 30 days. It was the most shared branded video in its first 7 days online (ViralVideoChart/Mashable) and the second-most shared branded video in it's first 30 days online.

It was voted 'Ad of the Day' and 'Ad of the Week' on ADWEEK and included among the 'Top 5 Most Awesome Viral Stunts of the Year' by Ad Age. The earned media surrounding the launch was off-the-charts. In addition to TV, print and online coverage (noted above), Jeff Gordon himself was quoted in USA Today as saying of TD2: "It's the most incredible thing I've ever done." Earned media estimates show 793 placements garnering 693,433,912 impressions at an estimated as value of over $14 million.