Desjardins General Insurance is taking potential customers for a virtual ride at the Montreal International Auto Show, and they’re hoping the drivers will spread the word via social media after the show.

As the presenting sponsor of the car show, which runs until Jan. 23, the company has a booth set up to talk up its products. Knowing that it’s hard to make insurance interesting when surrounded by concept cars and the newest consumer models, Desjardins set up a green screen and is giving visitors a chance to win a $2,500 travel voucher, Denis Côté VP, marketing, Desjardins Group, tells MiC.

‘For a lot of people, insurance is pretty boring, and we’re at an auto show, so why would you stop at the insurance booth for any reason except to be bothered?’ Côté says. ‘We want people to come to our booth and talk insurance with us.’

When people visit the booth, they’ll get to sit in a car in front of the screen and choose which background – mountains or beach – they’d like to drive in front of.

After the experience, Desjardins emails each driver a 20-second clip of the experience, which the driver can email to friends or post on Facebook and Twitter.

The more friends who view the video and vote for it, the bigger the chance the driver will have to win the $2,500 vacation voucher. Voters are also entered for a chance to win a $500 voucher.

‘This is a way for us to learn about social networks,’ Côté said of the promotion. ‘This is the new way to communicate, and we need to get familiar to do it the right way.’

Montreal-based Speed Promotions is handling the experiential and social media executions.