"What if you gave a Triumph [boat] to the biggest redneck in the world? He'd pull it around without a trailer. Bounce it into trees. Do everything he could to see how it would withstand all his abuses."

With that bubbling in his mind, David Smith, creative director of the downtown Durham ad agency The Republik, headed to the back roads of Arkansas in September 2006 to film the "Bubba Test." The resulting 30-second advertisement was good for a laugh and ran on the Fishing Channel and Triumph Boat's Web site.

Smith returned to Arkansas in June 2007 and topped himself. He combined God, the dreams of a child and the Triumph boat in a spot titled, "Divine Intervention."

A grandfather in a clerical collar sits on a dock with his grandson.

Grandson: "I sure wish we had a boat."

Grandfather: "Me, too. But you know, God's spiritual gifts are greater."

Cut to the highway and the cab of a truck pulling a Triumph boat. A god figure hits a knob to release the boat which: bounces on the highway at 40 mph; is pounded by a passing Mack truck; careens down a mountainside over rocks; falls off a 50-foot cliff; and settles in the lake in front of the dock.

Grandson: "Thank you, Jesus."

The ads have been downloaded onto YouTube and are passed along on the Internet from Italy to China, Smith says. A Genmar executive (Triumph's parent company) was in Europe recently to push his boats for the international market. "Everybody over there had seen 'Bubba' and 'Divine Intervention,' " Smith says.

Smith's agency has also produced spots with a Durham Bulls pitcher winging a 100 mph fastball against a Triumph and a boat being pounded by a sledge hammer and also a pendulum.

The ads evolved from the usual gassing between Triumph executives and Republik's creative types. "We had to make sure they were comfortable with making such a bold statement; not 'tough,' but 'the world's toughest boat,' Smith recalls. "That's what we're doing."

A "Boating Magazine" reporter was along for the "Divine Intervention" shot and reported in the November issue that the abuse was authentic and the boat remained intact.