Forza 4 Launch

An out-of-the-blue phone call earlier in 2011 ultimately led to a new client for Ignition...and at first we thought it was a wind up! “It’s someone from Top Gear” came the message. Yeah, right. As if.

Anyway, it turned out to be a completely real prospect and what an exciting one! All very hush hush to start with, the request was to see if Ignition could help the Commercial arm of the BBC team who pull together the world famous Top Gear programme, with the launch of a new game for xBox. The new edition of the highly successful Forza series launches officially in October 2011 and in late July, they wanted to give selected guys from the gaming world a taster of what the new edition had in store.

Why Top Gear? The new game was developed with the Top Gear Test track as a feature location, where gamers can pit their skills against the Stig in the ‘reasonably priced car’ and where Jeremy Clarkson gives an audio commentary on some of the cars in the game, in his own irreverent style. The Commercial team look after the Top Gear ‘brand’ and make sure that everything associated fits with the brand image. That’s where Ignition came in: being used to the requirements of automotive manufacturers, they understand just how important it is for the organisation of the events to match the brand promise.

Ignition supplied cars and drivers for use on the track, to give the journalists an experience around the famous circuit, together with a unique FWD/RWD autotest to give them the chance to do something a little different. They also arranged catering, insurance, in-car filming and on-vehicle branding. But the trickiest part was arranging a car for passenger rides for guests around the circuit, driven by a professional driver dressed in a white suit – the Stig himself! Certainly, the Lamborghini Gallardo needed a new set of brakes afterwards.

Rob Forsyth, Managing Director of Ignition was closely involved with every aspect of arranging this event. “It was an unusual request, but one that fitted right within our skillset. As part of my desire to see the company deal with a host different industries, this was an exciting prospect. I’m pleased to say that the event went very smoothly and we had some excellent feedback. We’re now talking to various parties involved about the next stage of the launch of Forza 4. More news on that soon.”

Duncan Gray, Commercial Director of Top Gear wrote shortly afterwards: “Hi Rob - just wanted to ... thank you and your team for a perfectly professional operation at the Top Gear Track last week. The event went off without a hitch and the guests absolutely loved it. We’ve received loads of press coverage as a result which was one of the key objectives”