Battling America’s Addiction to Oil with a Multimillion Dollar Prize

ASSESSING THE SITUATION

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE was launched in 2006, at a time when gas prices were rising, consumers were becoming more aware and interested in alternative energy vehicles, and the world was realizing that “going green” wasn’t just a fad. In March 2008, at the New York International Auto Show, the X PRIZE Foundation announced that Progressive Insurance would come on as title sponsor to fund the $10 million prize purse, and that the U.S Department of Energy would fund a $3.5 million national education program. More than 100 teams from around the world, with varied experience and backgrounds entered the competition, and began work on their super fuel efficient vehicles, aimed at achieving 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent (MPGe). On Thursday, September 16, at the Historical Society of Washington DC, The X PRIZE Foundation, along with its title sponsor Progressive Insurance, announced three winners in the $10 million competition for super fuel efficient vehicles.

 

Competitions and contests are announced every day, and there are plenty of automakers that claim they can build a vehicle that can achieve 100 miles per gallon, but there remains only one international competition for super efficient vehicles that was watched as closely by mainstream media for the past several years as The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE.

 

CAMPAIGN EXECUTION
The multi-year project demanded that the C.Fox team remain on top of and in front of national energy and environment issues, to keep the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE and each of its competitors in the spotlight. From the start, we secured high profile media coverage for the competition, and helped to raise a following for each of the teams and their technologies. We developed and implemented an ongoing, multi-year, comprehensive campaign, mixing traditional public relations, new media, government relations, strategic marketing, events, consumer education, and public affairs to tell the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE story among multiple verticals.

 

Throughout the life of the competition, public relations remained a top priority to build the PIAXP brand and excite individuals and organizations to actively engage and remain involved in the competition. Key Tactics included:

RESULTS
By leveraging the expertise of the competition’s leadership, highlighting the extraordinary stories of competing teams and by providing media with an up close and personal look at the vehicles of tomorrow, the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE was regularly featured in major national and international news outlets on a regular basis and referenced in news stories, blogs and media outlets daily. The competition was the topic of two WIRED Magazine cover stories and two features on NBC’s Today Show, as well as featured in Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest, TIME Magazine and Consumer Reports. And now, even after the prize was awarded, The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE continues to be referenced in news stories, blogs and media outlets on a regular basis and nearly all of the coverage is positive in nature. Details of the competition have been covered by 43 of the top 50 U.S. newspapers by Designated Market Area (DMA), in over 6,000 articles and feature stories, and in 33 countries worldwide. Our efforts resulted in over 12 billion reader and viewer impressions, which exceed the amount of coverage for any other X PRIZE to date. Most remarkable, however, is the successes that have followed from the competing teams, including high profile jobs, to book offers to major motion pictures. This is one one story that we know will live on for a long time to come.