If you are fans of The Amazing Race, then you are going to have to mark your calendars for the debut of a new kind of reality television series from the same creators. Ford announced this week that they are teaming up with the creators of The Amazing Race — Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri — to create an interactive road rally series. Of course it doesn’t in there, the series will feature the all-new 2012 Ford Focus with emphasis on its class leading technology.

According to the press release that came out on Monday, the program will run for five weeks and be titled Focus Rally: America. The show is scheduled to begin taping in February with auditions being held by submitting a online application at www.focusrally.com or by attending one of the live auditions in one of 11 cities: Los Angeles, Tampa, Austin, Boston, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Houston, Orlando and Las Vegas.

The creators of The Amazing Race seem to be all smiles about the opportunity. “We are so excited to be involved in this groundbreaking series,” said Doganieri. “There are two key elements to this series: first, the interactive element, which is designed to engage viewers throughout the rally and encourage them to participate in the challenges; and second, the real-time twist where consumers have the ability to follow their favorite team in the digital space. We’ve enjoyed collaborating with Ford on this project and feel the end result has the potential to be a real game-changer in the reality world.”

Even Matt VanDyke, Ford’s Director of U.S. Marketing, seems excited by the prospect that this type of programming could influence buyers in the market place. “The technology available with the Focus will be demonstrated throughout the course of the rally,” said VanDyke. “And fans will see Focus’ technology used by the competitors in a very authentic way. Essentially, they will be riding along on a very entertaining virtual test drive of the vehicle. At the end of the day, we are hopeful they will put the new Focus on their shopping list.”

So mark your calendars for those auditions now and be sure to tune in for the first episode, which is supposed to air in February 2011. You can even catch it streaming on Hulu. More information on the program and auditions can be found at www.focusrally.com.

 

 

[Source: Ford]