Situation : when you turn up at such big events, you have many big brands participating.

Brief: :stand out from the crowd with an unconventional activation

Objectives : improve awareness and brand image of CUPRA in France.

On the occasion of CUPRA partnership with GP Explorer 2, we decided to extend the race into the virtual world of Trackmania, the leading social racing game. Why? Because we wanted to give every single spectator and every fan the opportunity to run the race themselves.

To target our 18-35 years old audience, the next generation of drivers, we decided to merge the world of video games and the world of racing, which allowed us to express the notion of automotive performance specific to CUPRA.

Approach : Bring a new digital dimension to the GP Explorer 2 track by turning every spectator into drivers. We decided to engage the audience in an intense virtual race on Trackmania’s world. By installing racing simulators on site, we brought all spectators to our stand, having them deserting the ones of our biggest competitors.

We have created the circuit of Le Mans into the virtual world of Trackmania with the CUPRA’s DNA named “CUPRA NEO TRACKS”. The map release was highlighted by a video teaser of it.

Our map was featured as a "Track of the day" (a daily showcase of community). When the track of the day finished, all streamers earned trophy points based on their final ranking.

We created all the elements that made it possible to build this map and the announcement videos with 3D artists from the Trackmania community in order to involve them in the construction of this project. The design of our map represents the circuit of Le Mans with CUPRA's futuristic vision.

By taking the craft of the game to the next level, players got an experience never seen on Trackmania. All the ingredients were there. A mythical track, a highly anticipated event, and a new way to participate in it. It went from being a watching event to a participating one. Reaching our target audience the best way possible. It even went outside of our borders with the world’s biggest Trackmania live steamers playing naturally (Wirtual – 1,1M followers Youtube, Bren_TM2 – 125K followers Twitch, Majijej – 100k followers Twitch).

Results of our CUPRA NEO TRACKS activation :

• Increased visibility and awareness: more than 300 million impressions

• 132 days of game play in only 2 weeks

• Improved brand image: from 18th to 4th place to the level of Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche and Audi, ahead of Tesla (source MPM France Q3 2023).