M&M puts Scorpio on mobiles

Soon Mahindra & Mahindra's SUV, Scorpio, could be zooming on your mobile. The auto major has put the Scorpio on the mobile phone in the form of a game, called the Turbanator.

"We are creating a brand surround through innovative ideas like these," says Niteen Bhagwat, CEO of Interface Communications, which has helped M&M develop the concept.

The Turbanator, a race, will be available as a downloadable game or can be played directly on any WAP enabled phones. The game positions the Scorpio as a bully that looks down upon other cars. "The premise is that the Scorpio is much more than just a car. It's kind of looking down on other cars," he adds.

The Turbonator challenges the player to utilise the features of Scorpio and to post record wins competing against other cars.

The game can be downloaded for Rs 50 and you need not be a Scorpio owner to play the game. Interface claims that so far over 4,500 downloads have been made in the last three months.

Says Anu Anand, senior manager (marketing services), M&M: "The huge popularity of the Scorpio brand is taking the form of a cult. We want the Scorpio brand to be part of customer's daily life. The growing popularity of the mobile gaming and content downloads, particularly with the urban community, will help us leverage the medium."

Essentially, the effort is to connect with high-end mobile users who are either currently own or are potential customers of Scorpio. Adds Bhagwat "We see the Scorpio owner or potential customer as a fun loving person who has arrived in life." And that is were the high-end mobile connect is established.

Interface also has taken extra efforts to see that the Turbonator is built completely around the Scorpio brand from the ground up rather than the brand being shrink-wrapped around an existing game.

Set in an urban background, featuring a realistic and large Mahindra Scorpio and a very fast and exciting gameplay, a lot of strategically placed in-game ad-banners and a scrollable image gallery add to the effectiveness of the brand building exercise.

In fact, expert players can compete online using GPRS to break the global high score records on each track. Players can choose the track and the Scorpio color of their liking.

The popularity of the Turbonator game has already inspired Interface to look at second version of this car game.