How do you promote a film with an unmemorable name about a 3000-mile horse race across the Arabian Desert in 1890? The answer was to stage a highly memorable 3000-mile dune buggy race across America starting at the NBA All-Star Game in LA and ending at the ESPN Zone in Times Square 14-days later (just in time for the film's opening). The competition was designed to leverage multiple Disney assets:
• Live remotes on Good Morning America
• Full-coverage on ESPN 2
• Buggy-cams transmitting to a website 24/7
The concept was one part race, one part scavenger hunt (drivers had to pick up branded items from each state they crossed) and one part lottery: the audience could vote on which of 5 dune buggies they thought would win; those who chose the winner would be eligible to win one of the five buggies in a post-race raffle.
