, the kick off of Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week this past Sunday was a momentous occasion worth celebrating. Volkswagen is getting in on the action by sponsoring […] "'Pin It")
Volkswagen Sponsoring Non-Stop Shark Week, King of Shark Week Challenge
There are some holidays that everyone can universally come together and observe in harmony, and while it’s not an official holiday (not yet anyway, no thanks to Obama), the kick off of Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week this past Sunday was a momentous occasion worth celebrating. Volkswagen is getting in on the action by sponsoring the Non-Stop Shark Week social media campaign, which includes videos and the Shark Week Challenge Sweepstakes.
By visiting vwsharkweek.com, you can watch a three-episode web series starring Tom Schappert and two other cast members from Discovery’s Dude, You’re Screwed. The premise: given that sharks cannot stop swimming (see the original ending of Jaws), three survival experts are tasked with driving 567 miles non-stop on a single tank in a VW Golf TDI Clean Diesel.
You can view the first of three episodes below:
And for those of you who like winning things (and playing purposefully frustrating games), you can participate in the King of Shark Week Challenge Sweepstakes, wherein you will be given three chances to enter by playing three unique games.
The first, which is available to try out now, is the 567-Mile Scroll. And, yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s basically Desert Bus for the 21st century.
You are tasked with scrolling a little Golf TDI Clean Diesel down your screen for the equivalent of 567 miles…in real time. Max speed starts out at 60 miles per hour and—here’s a real kicker—you are slowed down for exceeding that by anything more than 10 mph.
This never gets annoying
It seems that over time, your speed limit gets kicked up gradually, and you will occasionally run over glowing blue arrows that put you into Shark Mode, which maxes out your speed at 128 mph for a short period of time.
Even if you were to somehow max out your speedometer so that you could travel at a consistent speed of 128 miles per hour, it would still take you around 4.5 hours to complete the game.
Our advice: just click the “Enter Anyway” button and go on about your day.
The grand prize is a Shark Week t-shirt and $2,500 in cash, which is nothing to turn your nose up at, but is also certainly not worth scrolling aimlessly for six hours and risking your boss coming up behind you and asking you what you’re doing.
We barely made it 3.5 minutes before getting yelled at. Also: shark poop.
The Shark Survivor game, and the second entry opportunity, is available tonight from 9:20pm. The Swim Like a Shark game and third entry opportunity will begin tomorrow night at 9:20. From there, you will have until August 31 to log your three entries in the King of Shark Week Challenge Sweepstakes.
You can also pick up exclusive Volkswagen-branded Shark Week merchandise from the Volkswagen DriverGear shop and join in on the conversation on social media with the hashtag #VWSharkWeek.
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