2012 Ford Focus to be Feature of Interactive Reality Show: Rally America

Americans all across the county will soon be able to participate in a new interactive reality show, Focus Rally, which features the new 2012 Ford Focus. Virtual participants will be able to interact and assist Focus Rally teams in the cross-country race through their Facebook and Twitter pages. Fans are allowed to register online at FocusRally.com to become a virtual team member during the 5-week interactive reality show. By using the Internet or mobile smart phones, virtual team members will be able to assist their team in challenges through a point earning system. Some participants will even be able to win their very own 2012 Ford Focus vehicle.

According to an article on TheFordStory.com, “Focus Rally: America is different from other reality programs in that the teams will enlist fans from social channels like Facebook and Twitter to help them compete against other teams. These fans will then be able to interact with the teams throughout the race, developing real-time ‘life lines,’” said Jeff Eggen, Ford Experiential Marketing manager. “The audience of followers and supporters of each team can help them to solve those challenges and therefore give their team a boost.”

Virtual team members will be able to play a huge part in the Focus Rally race. They will be able to follow along with the race in real time as well as have the ability to affect the outcome of the game by playing along and competing in online challenges from their mobile devices. Prior to the start of the race, fans will also be able to meet all of the teams and choose which team they would like to become a member of for the rest of the race. Through the rally, the virtual team members will receive text messages when they are needed to participate in challenges. They can also earn points for their team by logging onto the Website daily and participating in race-related activities.

According to the article on FordStory.com, “The drivers will lean on their digital teammates to help them compete in interactive challenges along the way,” said Jeff.

The team members will also reach out to their fans through various social networks to help with deciphering clues and winning challenges. Because of this, the social vibrancy of each contestant was taken into consideration when picking Focus Rally teams.

The Focus Rally will feature six teams of two people. Some of the teams are friends, some a couples and some are co-workers but they are all “adventurous, funny and very entertaining,” according to the article. Having entertaining team members is crucial to this reality show because unlike many others that are edited for content, this is not. The teams will be featured on daily webisodes on Hulu beginning February 1, 2011. They’ll also be broadcast on FocusRally.com in real time.

Each of the 12 participants come from different parts of the country and they all have very different backgrounds. Each of the teams are named after the color of the 2012 Ford Focus they will be driving. The teams are as follows:

Team Ingot Silver: Couple, Jeff Nash, 29, and Margot Baill, 27, from Chicago. Margo is a product development manager and Jeff is a bar owner.

Team Yellow Blaze: Friends, Bryn Drescher, 33, from Essex, U.K. and Donna Ruko, 33. They both now live in Los Angeles. Bryn is a life coach and Donna is a lounge supervisor.

Team Red Candy: Friends, Brittany Boddington, 25, from Northridge California and Matt Farah, 28 from Redondo Beach, California. Brittany is a writer, model and bartender and Matt is an automotive video host.

Team Blue Candy: Friends, Adam Lustick, 27, and Clayton Early, 28, from Brooklyn, New York. Adam is a comedian and cater and Clayton is a director of student affairs.

Team Black: Friends and band members, Benjamin Kemp, 28, from Philadelphia and Michael Pericolosi, 25, from Lumberton, New Jersey. Benjamin is in marketing and event planning and Michael is a bartender and trainer.

Team Sterling Grey: Co-workers, John Jung, 28, and Carolyn Bee, 24, from Seattle. They are both advertising account managers.

Focus Rally America will be hosted by World Cup and Olympic gold medal winner, Jonny Moseley. The winning team of the Focus Rally will gain the title of Focus Rally: America Champion as well as a grand prize of $100,000. Both team members will also win a new 2012 Ford Focus. For more details on the race and how to become a virtual team member, visit FocusRally.com.