As every aspirant pilot, my dream was to compete against a real champion… You think this is crazy? But that’s exactly what we did:

Our idea was to create the most unexpected race between me (an over-motivated snail!) and the fastest man on earth, the all-time most titled automotive pilot Sébastien Loeb, whose popularity helped speed up the interest for the operation.

First, we organized “the Turbo challenge”, an immersive event where teams of influencers and journalists were trained by Loeb to compete in real racing cars. They could also encourage snails that raced on a special “snail track”.

Then, an offbeat viral video showing how Loeb trained me for the final race was relayed on YouTube. Have you ever imagined a snail doing weightlifting, supported by cheerleaders holding “lettuce” pom –poms? This gives you an idea of what people could watch on YouTube, and share on social media.

My dream came true: the race images were broadcasted to a wider target audience on the biggest TV French channels and entertainment blogs and websites.

The video was so engaging that it was watched at 90% and shared 5000+ times.

Thanks to free media, we fastened the pace of excitement with 6 million people reached.

Finally, “Turbo” led the race with 2.3 million entries, way ahead of its competitor “Planes”and its 1.5M entries… And crossed the finish line as the 9th most successful movie in France in 2013.

What a fast success for such a slow animal… Thank you snail eaters!