Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations rolled into the Electronic Entertainment Expo last week for the first time in the event’s 20-year history, a cherry red Miata in tow.
The Entertainment Software Association’s annual gaming convention drew about 52,000 industry professionals, analysts, journalists and enthusiasts to the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Mazda invited gaming aficionados to test drive its 2016 MX-5 Miata on a pair of simulators running Microsoft Corp.’s Forza Horizon 2 game, in anticipation of the vehicle hitting dealer showrooms this summer.
“Working with Xbox and Microsoft opened the doors for us to be here,” said Eric Watson, Mazda’s director of marketing. “We are usually here for the auto show.”
The gaming conference was the culmination of a nine-month marketing effort by Mazda to engage video gaming consumers, which number about 155 million in the U.S.
The automaker prior to E3 held several contests open to players using the Xbox One or Xbox 360 systems.
“Gaming is a big part of pop culture, and it’s a big part of connecting with millennials, the younger generations,” Watson said. “We felt through the racing game that we are able to show what our brand is about, which is about driving, that driving matters to us.”
The winner of a car shell markings design contest for Miata vehicles racing in the Forza Horizon 2 game was recognized at the South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival in March in Austin, Texas.
“We were expecting 100 entries, and we got more than 500,” the automaker’s vice president of marketing, Russell Wager, said in an earlier interview, adding that it “takes an average person about 18 hours to design one of those on Xbox. So we had 500 people spend (a) minimum of 18 hours with our brand designing what the car looks like.”
The latest contest, the Mazda MX-5 Challenge, began in March and wrapped up last Wednesday in front of the E3 crowd. The brand staged a simulator race between the two finalists, each eyeing the shiny red 2016 Miata on display in Mazda’s booth. David Goss of St. Louis, Mo., beat Colton Miller of Indianapolis, Ind., but the automaker gave a Miata to both.
“They both spent so much time preparing for this event that we didn’t want one of them going home empty-handed,” said Watson, adding that E3 was “a great platform to host a race between the two gamers and in front of a crowd of people who genuinely care about gaming.
Also having an audience of convention goers who aren’t necessarily hard-core gamers didn’t hurt, either.
“Although E3 is typically made up of industry professionals, they are also gamers themselves and thus still represent an audience that would enjoy watching the race,” he said. “The (Mazda) display is in a great area. We are getting a lot of attention.”
The automaker also partnered with Xbox on the 2014 Mazda3 launch in June 2013. The compact hatchback’s debut was broadcasted globally on Microsoft’s online gaming platform, Xbox Live, which has more than 46 million users.
“We were not in an auto-show environment,” Watson said. “We created our own unique event through Xbox. Overall, it’s been a fun partnership. It really allowed us to talk about the design of our cars, the heritage of our cars, and about the driving of our cars. That’s what’s important to us.”
Mazda3 has been the automaker’s most popular model this year, leading sales with 45,627 units moved through May.
Mazda sold 305,801 vehicles last year, up 7.7% over 2013, and spent about $300 million on media buys, according to New York-based Kantar Media.
Watson didn’t reveal whether the automaker’s in-game marketing efforts will expand but said “gaming and connecting with the millennial generation is an important part of what we want to do as a business, so we’ll look at opportunities.”
