For over 50 years Polaris has claimed to build the world’s toughest ATVs. But, lately, their competitors were claiming the same thing. And they outspend Polaris 20 to 1 to do so. So Tom Tiller, the CEO of Polaris decided to do what any self-respecting CEO would: he picked a fight. Tiller challenged his competitors to compete in The Duel, a series of ATV riding challenges set forth to prove, once and for all, who builds the world’s toughest ATVs.

On October 6 2006, a spot aired on the VS channel in which the CEO of Polaris called out his CEO rivals by name and challenged them to compete in The Duel. That day, ATV enthusiast blogs were seeded and rich media banners were launched, all featuring the video. Fans attending ATV races that weekend encountered flyers about The Duel as well as Duel stickers and CDs with The Duel theme song. And on their windshields they found the CEO’s business card stamped with polarisduel.com – a microsite that served as the hub of information about The Duel.

During the course of The Duel campaign, the following occurred: In ATV enthusiast blogs, The Duel yielded 16 times more forum posts than any other topic. Positive opinion of Polaris ATVs by non-Polaris owners increased 25%. Interest in Polaris ATVs by non-Polaris owners increased 49%. And in the two short weeks of the programme, The Duel campaign garnered over 10 million PR impressions and continues to be the most talked-about campaign in the ATV industry.