Mercedes Announces Tweet Race to the Big Game

The North American division of Mercedes-Benz announced today the launch of the world’s first Twitter-fueled race as part of a multi-channel Super Bowl initiative. Specifically, race teams will be powered by Twitter activity to the Super Bowl, during which the company will advertise for the very first time.

The Tweet Race campaign will put four two-person driving teams behind the wheels of specially equipped 2011 Mercedes-Benz vehicles on February 2 and converging on February 4 at Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas, Texas.

Each team will embark from four separate locations, namely Chicago, Los Angeles and New York and Tampa, competing for a pair of all-new 2012 C-Klasse Coupes, a model which will debut later this year. They will have the help of Twitter–savvy celebrities, who, in the role of Team Coach, will rally online support for their assigned teams and raise money for charity in the process.

Supporters who officially join a team before the race begins are automatically be entered to win a VIP trip for two to the Mercedes-Benz sponsored event of their choice (2011 US Open, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in September 2011 or the 2011 PGA Championship) if their team wins.

"We've begun amping up our efforts in the social media space to start some new conversation with the brand," said Steve Cannon, vice president of marketing for MBUSA. "When we made the decision to utilize the Super Bowl to set the stage for these new models, we decided to go beyond simply showcasing the brand to actually creating dialogue, experiences and interaction. We think the combination of our advertising and the Twitter Race will create the type of 'living' advertisement that engages people in new ways."