Time to restore Dodge DNA. And raise the bar in Branded Entertainment.

To find a bold new generation of car buyers, you can’t go conventional.

Branded entertainment has been part of the US media landscape for several decades now. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) simply requires sponsorships to be disclosed. This environment can make it much more challenging for a brand to rise up and get noticed.

As a result, everyone in Branded Entertainment has been looking for the Next Leap Forward. We’re proud to say that our client Dodge, made that leap.

In an 18-month long collaboration between TV producers, agency and Dodge, we built an entire new world around Defiance, a new TV show on Syfy network that seamlessly merged TV show, video game, and live experience. Dodge was an intrinsic part of the plot-line. Fans have never been this far immersed.

We tied the past and future together and made the Dodge brand, literally, a hero figure.

Defiantly Dodge.

We staged the rebirth of a legendary American hero, Dodge, by connecting it to a modern-day hero, Jeb Nolan, Chief Lawkeeper of Defiance.

You don’t know who Sheriff Jeb Nolan is? He’s one of the biggest TV heroes to launch in the past decade, the program being Defiance on SyFy Network. Set in the post-apocalyptic future, Defiance is populated by tense blend of aliens and humans.

Defiance was the first-ever convergence of television, online-gaming and live-event. Viewers could watch the show and then engage with the story online, carrying out missions tied to the plot-line.

On TV and online, Dodge was Jeb’s badass ride. Wherever Jeb appeared, so did Dodge.

Taking product integration even further, Dodge created a Defiance Experience at auto-shows, with Jeb’s Charger on display in addition to gaming stations where fans could experience the world of Defiance and more importantly, Dodge!

Results of heroic proportions for Dodge.

Tying Dodge to a contemporary American action hero truly paid off.

When all was said and done, the Defiance campaign achieved over 1.8-million Facebook impressions, 5,630 social shares, and 1.5-million Twitter impressions. It also increased Dodge’s Average Monthly Blog page-views by +172%. Our merging of show with game for a Virtual Scavenger Hunt achieved an 84% completion rate. At live auto-shows, our audiences could play Defiance at gaming stations we provided, and then pose for photo-ops with Defiance stars and Dodge vehicles. In venues where visible displays of fan loyalty are rarely attained: Defiance fans formed line-ups.

We made Dodge a hero once more for a new generation, as measured by a 20% year-on-year increase in opinion and consideration. Better still, a +15% year-over-year combined sales, resulting in $148-million in gross-sales and 4,930 incremental units sold. Above all, Dodge Defiance outperformed the Dodge Division by +23% in units sold (Source: Experian Velocity System Super Retail Sales).

Extending the gratification, Defiance is being picked up for another year by the network and we expect a new legion of fans to maintain deep ties to Jeb Nolan’s heroic ride: Dodge.