• by Karl Greenberg , May 11, 2011

If you are a fan of hair-raising YouTube extreme adventure clips, you have probably heard about -- or more likely seen -- clips of the infamous Yunga Road, also fondly known as Bolivia's "Death Road."

The treacherous 43-mile mountain notch from La Paz to Coroico climbs to over 15,000 feet and is tormented by avalanches and tragedy. It has gotten a reputation as the most dangerous on Earth because it is essentially a one-lane road serving two-way traffic and happens to have been carved into the side of near-vertical drop along a mountain range thousands of feet above the Bolivian rain forest.

Besides the beautiful scenery, the road is also decorated with crucifixes. In order to tout its new Outlander and Outlander Sport SUVs, Mitsubishi is offering something of a 360-degree view of the vertiginous route as part of a new, aptly named campaign, "World's Most Dangerous Test Drive."

The effort is actually the first ad campaign ever shot on the road, which has no guard rails between travelers and thousand-plus foot vertical drops and that -- based on who you ask -- kills north of 200 people a year.

The TV, digital, and social-media campaign (with a dedicated Facebook tab) includes a 30-second TV ad, the making of which is viewable here.

The Web site includes behind-the-scenes videos as well. One longer video opens with locals somberly talking about the road: "If a person wants to venture on that road, they must have all their five senses." A native of Coroico says, "All Coroico people has [sic] something dead in this road." Another woman says people who travel on the road normally take amulets with them.

Greg Adams, VP marketing, says the new effort is the third part of a triptych that started last year with a program wherein consumers could actually test-drive a real Outlander remotely via their computers, then a winter campaign that had the automaker bring the Sport and GT versions up to a frozen Canadian lake to break five world records.

Adams says the effort will initially run in 12 top markets for the brand, then later in the automaker's top 20 markets.

"We wanted to make sure we weren't doing 'launch and leave.' We wanted to bring the new Outlander to the forefront quickly, and then keep it there over 8 to 12 months, and let people begin to see it in different situations."

He says that while the point is to focus on the company's positioning of its all-wheel-drive system, Mitsubishi wants to do it in extreme environments in an exciting way that avoids cliches like cutaways, tech talk and "TMI" that bore people or tune them out. "In the current consumer funnel, you have to draw them in, but it doesn't mean you have to come right out of the gate [talking about the] technology. The car is still a very emotional purchase."

Gavin Milner and Grant Holland, the creative directors on the project, said the vehicles had to be airlifted to La Paz, and then driven to the beginning of the Yunga on a road that was pretty bad. Milner said the assignment was especially tough, as they had to top the Calgary campaign. "They wanted to up it a notch."

He says the Web site 360 video is meant to give the feeling that one is in a car driving the road, as one can choose views out either side, front, rear or down the sheer drop next to the vehicle. "There are seven clips that are anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute," he says. "They are not polished, but are made to feel you are in the car; it's very rugged."

The goal of the larger campaign, says Milner, is to support three brand pillars: technology, fun and first. "Everything we do should demonstrate that."

The automaker reported combined sales of its Outlander and Outlander Sport up more than 98% year-to-date over 2010 sales figures.