Entertainment in Taiwan is limited to pop music concerts, or at best, baseball which draws big crowds. All other forms of live entertainment are unknown to the Taiwanese.

Red Bull Soapbox race, often known as the “World’s Wackiest Race” raced into Taiwan in September 2013.

The Race is a significant brand building activity for the energy drinks company because it gets hosted hosted across 80 countries.

The outdoor entertainment event relied heavily on audience participation - for building soapboxes and attending this fun event. But it was easier said than done.

There was zero awareness of Soapbox racing in Taiwan to begin with. Worse still, the Taiwanese do not have a “DIY” culture (a pre-requisite for building soapboxes) you just won't see a toolbox or a garage in a Taiwanese household.

To raise awareness about the Race and engage the audiences, a branded content approach was taken by localising activities, for people to connect with this new form of outdoor entertainment. Next, taking a hybridised multi-media approach, digital and traditional touch points were seamlessly integrated while ensuring content diversification across these touch points to initiate conversations and engage audiences across all media.

Old and abandoned cars were used as unconventional mediums of outdoor advertising.

A gigantic shopping wall was converted into an LED panel and monetized, creating a spectacular view at the heart of Taipei city.

A multi-screen content plan on Yahoo! Taiwan, Red Bull’s owned and social media site was implemented to raise awareness and create engagement.

Campus programs in various universities taught students how to build a Soapbox vehicle.

Well-known local band ‘Sticky Rice’ created a theme song and was aired throughout campaign period.

Social media influencers were chosen as judges, connecting the competition with their fans.

The wackiest tactic was inviting a 60-year old participant to be the Race’s spokesperson and promoting him and his passion for hand-making his dream machines via video ads.

Closer to the event, location-based mobile ads were tactically featured along the MRT line to lead spectators to the event venue, thus triggering a drive-to-action.

Never before did Red Bull Soapbox race see such tremendous fan and fun following as it did in Taiwan receiving 426 qualified designs – the highest submission ever made, creating a new world record.

Of these, 52 teams, manning their incredible soapbox creations shaped as bananas, pens, lipsticks and popular cartoon characters raced on the racing day, careening through the jumps, bumps, curves and swerves.

The event saw a turnout of 55,000 people, surpassing the attendance from countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Japan. Another 50,000 viewers watched the event via live streaming on Yahoo! Taiwan.

The pre-event activities created tremendous buzz with more than 160 media reporting on the racing event – higher than the coverage the most popular Taiwanese NBA star, Jeremy Lin received when visited Taiwan for the NBA match.

Social listening for Red Bull saw the buzz volume increase of 138% from the intended threshold and 1,666% for Soapbox Race, making them the most searched key words on Google and Yahoo!. Red Bull Soapbox Facebook site saw 2698 posts about the topic and thousands of comments and shares.

Red Bull celebrated speed a la F1 style and made it a fun weekend for everyone.