The event was organised as part of the company’s latest campaign, developed with DDB and Tribal Worldwide, which runs in the UK and Germany until the end of 2013.
It aims to provide a solution to awkward moments which might be experienced during a car journey, and highlights a number of scenarios when users can use TomTom’s portable navigation devices (PND) to get to their destination faster.
Four of the Comedy Store Players’ regular performers entertained guests in an evening of improvised comedy sketches, which invited the audience to contribute ideas to a number of bizarre scenarios.
Comedians Andy Smart, Neil Murllarkey, Richard Vranch and Lee Simpson rounded off the evening on stage with a TomTom-themed sketch game. Guests were asked for two types of passengers and where they might be travelling to in a car, and then proceded to act out the scenarios with each one culminating in an awkward moment.
Yesterday (21 November) the TomTom comedy car toured London and was dubbed as the first improv comedy show on wheels. The public sent their ideas for scenarios via social media and the comedians acted out the awkward situation. Videos of the sketches were then posted on YouTube.
Mark Chalmers of DDB and Tribal Worldwide, Amsterdam, said: "Best friends or colleagues, husbands or wives, we've all dropped some clangers and need a quicker journey as a result.
"Just like our scenarios, the TomTom device is for the daily commute, the airport trip or the big day out. As the campaign develops, we'll be opening it up to the public with a real time, social media tactic, created by consumers, as they contribute live, via Twitter, to improvised comedy shows in cars."
Gary Raucher, senior vice president of marketing for TomTom, told Event: "Wednesday night's event gave an influential audience an insight into the TomTom comedy car, a social campaign we filmed yesterday with the help of real-time Twitter contributions and the Comedy Store Players. The campaign plays on insightful, funny and awkward moments when you want to reach your destination as quickly as possible.
"This is an important campaign for us, being the first significant above-the-line campaign we’ve launched since 2009 and the first to be developed with DDB."
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