Caterpillar’s original eight Cat Trial videos have clocked up over 18 million views on YouTube. Now the OEM has returned to the series with a ninth instalment – this time with a little help from an arcade game classic.
As Caterpillar celebrates its 95th anniversary and Pac-Man its 40th, the two iconic brands came together for Cat-Trail #9. The trail recreated a Pac-Man gameboard – at 19,040% its original size on the classic screen – and then had remote controlled Cat 236D3 skid steers taking the parts of the four ghost and the hungry, yellow lead character.
“These trials are designed to surprise and delight our customers and prospects, as well as people outside our industry,” says Victoria Keese Morrissey, global marketing and brand director for Caterpillar. “Challenges the ghosts pose to Pac-Man strike a unique metaphor for obstacles lurking around each corner of the jobsite. Power Pellets represent the role Cat dealer services play in helping our customers overcome these challenges.”
“As a unique surprise at the end, we wanted to pay homage to the original game, in a way only Caterpillar could. Due to available memory at the time, level 256 experiences an integer overflow, and the right side of the board can’t be rendered,” explains J. Archie Lyons, creative director, global brand strategy and activation for Caterpillar. “We have duplicated the original screen’s look of level 256 with our real-life PAC-MAN™ game, using four Cat dozers to create the effect.”
If the actual ‘game’, using the latest in Caterpillar remote control technology, was impressive, for anyone interested in semi-autonomous machine control technology will find the behind-the-scenes story of how the gameboard was built, even more so.
