Can-Am Derby

AI as a multidisciplinary
creative partner.

To launch the new Can-Am Defender, instead of telling farmers what it could do, we invited them to prove it themselves.

Awards:

Idéa 2026
Gold
Experience and Engagement

Gold
Brand Activation

Silver
Launch Strategy

Silver
Best Use of Research

Marketing Awards 2026
Silver
Branded Content

But inventing a whole sport takes specialists no agency keeps on staff: a track designer, a motorsport engineer, a competition builder.

So we directed AI into those seats and briefed it like any other member of the team.

As the work moved, the role changed.

DEFINING
THE IDEA

01

Strategist
Motorsport expert
Copywriter

DESIGNING
THE EXPERIENCE

02

Track designer
Engineering assistant
Designer

MAKING
IT REAL

03

Competition designer
Production collaborator
Engineering assistant

AI as strategic partner and motorsport expert

We started with 'Farmula 1,' a loose idea that had to become a real concept with business behind it.

Briefed as a strategist, AI connected the brief to the insight and helped us find the leap: turn real farm work into a competitive sport.

As a motorsport expert, it helped shape the format, the challenges, the obstacles, until the idea held up as a sport that could actually run.

AI designed challenges around the Defender’s capabilities.

Designing a racecourse takes expertise no agency team has. So we briefed AI as the track designer and pointed it at the Defender's spec sheet. It turned each capability into an obstacle built to prove it.

THE QUARRY CLIMB
A 40-foot rock crawl tests suspension, differential system and durability.

DIRTZILLA
A 45° incline with a 25-foot rise tests engine power, torque and climbing ability.

THE MUCK
Deep, sticky mud tests traction and the ability to maintain momentum.

STUMPROAD
Unevenly spaced logs showcase the ground clearance and push the suspension to its limit. 

BALE OUT
Drivers load four water-soaked bales, navigate a tight chicane, then unload against the clock.

THE HAYMAKER
A tight hay-bale slalom tests precision, control and maneuverability.

THE YANK
Drivers tow a vintage tractor across the dirt in a direct test of pulling power.

From creative concepts to real specs.

Briefed as an engineering assistant, AI turned those concepts into dimensions, angles, and materials the build team could check and build from.

The new sport needed
a brand of its own.

Directed as a designer, AI helped us build the whole identity: name, logo, vehicles, uniforms, the visual language of the sport.

From plan to build, the course and obstacles took shape.

The idea became real: the world’s first farm-build off-road race.

The real-world results:

4.7M

ORGANIC IMPRESSIONS

Across Can-Am and participant channels.

≈5 MIN

AVERAGE WATCH TIME

Audiences stayed with a long-form branded competition.

BEST SSV SALES MONTH IN CAN-AM HISTORY.

200+

ORGANIC CONTENT PIECES

Created and shared around the event.