Ford India’s hugely successful Discover Smart Drive’s Second Edition (DSD Season 2), with its ‘Most Awarded Car Ever – Figo ’ successfully culminated in India – paving its way for the winning team to drive the Chennai built Figo in Nepal as part of the final leg.
‘DSD Season 2’ drive was flagged off simultaneously from Mumbai, Lucknow, Chennai and Jammu on December 5.
Driven by three pairs of young participants and a mentor team, the eight days journey traversed across 28 cities covering 6400 km, with heightened engagement and participation from community fans
Official Press release
Ford’s Discover Smart Drive (DSD Season 2) in the phenomenal Figo traversed through cities, engaged participants, generated excitement for fans, promoted carbon neutral journey and in return created memories worth a lifetime for participants and their fans.
Ford India’s hugely popular and successful Discover Smart Drive (DSD Season 2) made a compelling comeback this year with loads of fun, adventure and cross-country engagement.
The drive kicked off simultaneously on December 5 from Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai and Chennai with four legs travelling the North to West, North to East, West to South and South to East corridors respectively. Each of the teams participated in the Ford “Driving Skills For Life” programme before the flag-off to be trained on safe, economical and eco-friendly driving. With the culmination in Kolkata, the three pairs of young participants and a mentor team covered 6400 kms and 28 cities in 8 days full of fun, adventure and cross-country engagement.
From deciphering clues and visiting famous landmarks to undertake challenging tasks of piling maximum coconuts and visit narrow shopping lanes in the Figo, the contestants were tested on the level of creativity and engagement. Making frothy Lassi in typical Chandigarh fashion and inviting strangers to dance at a beach shack in Goa were a few of them!
The last and final leg of the drive involving the winning team will take place in scenic Nepal – one of the 30 exports markets for the Figo.
“We wanted to make DSD 2 even more exciting, challenging and carbon neutral at the same time. We are glad that the participants discovered smart ways to perform the tasks and also experienced the popularity of Ford Figo in each city they travelled to. The winners will get to see that the Figo is a popular car beyond India’s borders and cherish the experience of a lifetime to discover the Everest of driving in India’s most awarded car ever”, said Ford India executive director, Marketing, Sales and Service, Nigel Wark.
Making it even more meaningful, the drive concluded with each of the participating teams planting saplings to make the whole journey and drive carbon-neutral.
Encouraging active online engagement, the ‘DSD 2’ proved to be a thrilling roller coaster for all the participants. During the experiential 8-day road trip, the participants had the chance to explore the scenic wonders and local attractions of the various cities. Their expeditions included visits to places such as the panoramic Imambara in Lucknow, the exquisite French city of Pondicherry, the mesmerizing Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi, the breezy beeches of Goa and rich dense jungles in Hazaribaug and the steel city of Durgapur.
Having driven the Figo on the Lucknow-Kolkata route, one of the teams comprising of Nishant Biswal and Iti Aggarwal said during the culmination event at Kaikan Ford dealership in Kolkata, “We had the best time of our life in the last one week and wish to thank Ford for such a memorable opportunity. Having loved the substantiality of Figo in India, we don’t want to miss the chance to live it again in Nepal and hope to win the contest”
For the first time ever, Ford India has made the entire DSD Season 2 a whole lot more experiential by roping in fan participation, both online and offline, as an important component of the drive. The new point-based scoring system adopted for the drive was made more challenging by linking it to finding pieces of and completing a jigsaw puzzle along the route in the shortest time.
But the interesting catch was to complete it with active fan participation and engagement and evaluation of the videos shot along the way. Successful completion of these challenges resulted in teams gaining points and moving forward.
Yet another first for the DSD2 was to include Bunny Punia and Bobby Roy from Gaadi.com as mentors for the participating teams. The duo are auto experts who have participated in numerous rallies around the country and brought their enriching experience on ground as mentors to the participants and help them reach their goals.
During the drive, the participants also stepped into a number of Ford dealerships and venues to join in the December Dhamaal celebrations running through-out the month of December with the best offers for customers.
“Our campaigns are focused around real people and real experience and we are echoing it in this years’ Discover Smart Drive. What these passionate teams are doing on road can be followed real time via our social media channels and this makes it so much more thrilling and fun-filled, even for our huge number of community fans,” Wark added.
Ford Figo fans followed the teams online on the Ford Figo communities – Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/fordfigo), Twitter (http://twitter.com/fordfigo) and Driving Ford blog (http://www.drivingford.in). – and helped the teams by posting valuable suggestions, advice and tips and participate in the offline events in their respective locations along the way. The lucky fans are being rewarded with prizes and goodies for giving their suggestions and tips to the participants.
“Figo has been a game changer for Ford and has driven growth in sales not just in domestic market but also in export markets. It is heartening to see that today, Figo is not only loved in India but desired beyond Indian borders with its footprint across 30 international markets. We thank our customers for their confidence in the product’’ concluded Nigel Wark.