Philips brand played out a publicity stunt with the help of Nico Rosberg, a driver for Formula 1’s AT&T Williams team that had Brazilian racecar fans scouring social networks for a chance to participate in a virtual race to find a lucky racing helmet.

A video that was seen on ESPN’s site in Brazil and then placed on YouTube was of Rosberg announcing that he had lost his lucky helmet upon arriving to Brazil and needed the help of fans to locate it before his race on October 18, 2009.

“The idea was to connect social networks with storytelling, with intense audience participation,” said Abel Reis, president of Sao Paulo-based digital shop Agencia Click, part of Aegis Group. And to make the Philips brand, a sponsor of Formula 1’s AT&T Williams team, stand out without spending much money.

A ghost tweeter at Agencia Click reportedly tweeted a series of messages and clues urging the people of Brazil to hunt for the missing helmet. To help the search, it was revealed that the helmet was equipped with a camera that would film its whereabouts. For several days video of easily recognizable Sao Paulo landmarks such as an art museum and soccer stadiums were posted on YouTube and on ESPN’s site sigaocapacete.com.br, which means, Follow That Helmet in Portuguese.

When fans found the helmet in a car bearing the Philips logo they filled out a form with their contact details and wrote a sentence about Formula 1 that had to include the words Philips and Nico Rosberg.

Twelve successful social media scavenger hunters won Philips merchandise such as televisions and MP3 players, and tickets to the Formula 1 race.

While Rosberg picked up 4700 followers on Twitter, a fake profile was set up claiming to be the helmet itself. “It was talking about the experience of being lost, from the helmet’s perspective,” Reis said. “We don’t know who it was.”