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Echoing the theme of the recent Mercedes-Benz ad, starring actor Benicio del Toro in a mock film trailer, the online 'Lucky Lucky Day' promotion gives readers the chance to play an online card game and win the chance to live like the luckiest man in the world for a week.

The promotion includes two first-class flights to Las Vegas, seven nights in a five-star hotel, a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, £1,000 gambling money, £1,500 spending money, and the use of a Mercedes-Benz SL-Class for the weekend on return to the UK. The competition launches today at luckyluckyday.com.

To highlight the promotion, the FT newspaper will carry a series of three promotional adverts, running on successive pages, which echo the 'Higher or Lower?' card game on the Luckyluckyday.com website. FT.com will carry interactive banners, which also mimic the card game and link to the site itself.

Reminiscent of the Hollywood-style production values of the 'Lucky Star' trailer the Luckyluckyday.com website allows readers to register and complete the game for entry into the prize draw. Players can also gain membership to the exclusive online 'Dragon Club' casino, with a further interactive card game.

Richard Payne, marketing communications manager for Mercedes-Benz, said: "This the first time Mercedes-Benz and the Financial Times have joined forces for a promotion of this nature. The entire 'Lucky Star' campaign has been about creating a buzz around the brand and reinforcing the SL as a luxury product, in an imaginative way. The FT is the perfect media vehicle for us to reach a high-quality, luxury-aware audience and deliver positive leads to our retail network."

Claire Payne, UK advertisement director for the Financial Times, said: "This promotion allows both Mercedes-Benz and ourselves to push the boundaries of online technology, to create a truly original and engaging promotion which enhances our readers understanding of the Mercedes-Benz experience."

The competition will run until Thursday August 29 and will be launched with the press campaign -- both in print and online -- and an email sent to 500,000 FT readers and FT.com users.

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