The Toyota Prius has been a leader for the past decade, but with newcomers to the hybrid market, the Prius had to once again prove its superiority. The brand had some great things going for it - a passionate community of owners, and a dominating history, peppered with world records.

Born of those two things, Prius Records set to engage a wide-ranging online audience by setting 200 URDB world records during two 10-hour live internet broadcasts. We used an intriguing and fun teaser video coupled with seeding and PR tactics to garner our audience, and the event went live on March 30th via ToyotaPriusProjects.com, URDB.org and the Prius Facebook page.

Two anchors, two roving correspondents, seven URDB officials and more than twenty skilled record-setters took the stage for two 10-hour, completely-live-on-the-internet days, ultimately setting 206 new world records.It didn’t end there. Communications following the event directed fans to URDB.org/PriusRecords, which housed all 206 records just waiting to be bested. The event had only begun.

In the end, we garnered nearly 25 Million earned media impressions, articles in The New York Times, Forbes, Wired, Motor Trend and Mashable and new pool of Prius fans.

We designed an amazing record-setting arena that contained four Prius vehicles. We cast 20 record setters from local improv groups as well as two anchors and two correspondents. They were linked via earpiece to a live TV truck operated by experienced live television producers and editors. The editors cut the records on-the-fly and posted them to URDB.org/PriusRecords so that fans could immediately get to beating them.A social team pulled relevant Tweets, Facebook posts and emails to be incorporated into the event whenever possible. We also had a section on the Prius Projects site where users could choose from a set list of props to design their own records, which we set on the fly.

Each 10-hour non-stop day was programmed like a live television show. We had dedicated camera crews and judges for each vehicle and allotted times for breaks.It all went exactly and shockingly to plan.

The event was picked up for coverage by a range of media including Mashable, Wired, BusinessWeek, Forbes and the New York Times. The buzz around the event alone garnered approaching 25 Million earned media impressions. Already, Prius people are posting their own attempts at breaking records and expanding the conversation into an interactive and social space. Thousands of feeds were viewed each day as the event was live, and several thousands more since the records have been posted on URDB.org. Praise has come through Twitter, Facebook and numerous Prius forums. Perhaps the most important result to Prius people, however, is that all the record breakers ended the trying two days in perfect health and all animals were well fed and kept happy.