It had to happen. An automaker had to prove its off-road capabilities by taking its vehicles down the Death Road. Well, Mitsubishi has done it. If you are a fan of hair-raising YouTube
extreme-adventure clips (base jumping, the guy jumps out of planes with a little jet-powered wing on his back) you have probably heard about or more likely seen clips of the infamous Bolivian "Death
Road."
The Yunga Road, a treacherous 43-mile mountain notch from La Paz to Coroico, a road the climbs to over 15,000 feet, 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 through the Bolivian rain forest.
Besides the
beautiful scenery the road is also decorated with crucifixes. Enough said, because one actually has to see it to really appreciate it, and arguably even a video representation doesn't quite do it
justice.
Thus, in order to tout its new Outlander and Outlander Sport SUV, 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 centers on the first ad creative ever shot on Yunga 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 that
directs viewers to see the 360-degree hair raiser at www.mitsubishicars.com/DangerousRoad.
A long-form behind-the-scenes film (not the ad) opens with locals somberly talking about the road
saying things like, "If a person wants to venture on that road, they must have all their five senses." A native of Coroico says, "All people of Coroico has something dead (sic) in this road." Another
woman says people who travel on the road normally take amulets with them.
The effort by the Cypress, Calif.-based automaker launches on Thursday. "Today it's about what a brand does as well
as what it says. So we didn't want to just talk about Mitsubishi's All-Wheel Control (AWC), we wanted to prove it by actually taking on the world's most dangerous road, said William Gelner, Executive
Creative Director at Mitsubishi's AOR 180LA, which did the work.
The automaker, which says combined sales of its Outlander and Outlander Sport are up more than 98% year-to-date over 2010 sales
figures.