Volvo Trucks Live Tests Series
Volvo Group Sweden
Issue 29 | December 2013
Agency
Forsman & Bodenfors
Creative Team
Art Director Anders Eklind Sophia Lindholm Copywriter Martin Ringqvist Bjorn Engstrom Writer Simon Coe Designer Jerry Wass Planner Tobias Nordstrom Agency Producer Alexander Blidner Digital Producer Niklas Lindstrom Peter Gaudiano Interaction Designer/ Information Architect Johan Wingard Web Producer Peter Gaudiano Stefan Thomson Account Managers Britta Malmberg Jenny Edwardsson Alison Arnold
Production Team
The Chase Production Company Smuggler Postproduction The Mill Director Henry Alex Rubin Producer Ray Leakey Music Wooly Bully by Sam The Sham & Pharaohs D.O.P Stephane Fontaine Sound 750 Editor Spencer Ferszt Marshall Street Editors The chase 360° Production Company B-Reel Post Production Stopp Spoon Music Wooly Bully by Sam The Sham & Pharaohs Plan8 Audio Plan8 Editor Spencer Ferszt Marshall Street Editors
Other Credits
Account Supervisor Olle Victorin Cilla Pegelow Account Manager Britta Malmberg
Date
October 2013
Background
The trucking business was a traditional B2B environment so it was a big challenge to create a radically new communication approach for Volvo trucks.
Not only was the target audience conservative but it was scattered and hard to reach.
The insight was that there are many influencers on the purchaser of a new truck. Drivers, friends and family, for instance. And journalists in the trade press.
The plan was to reach buyers through those around them, embracing the new media landscape in order to do so.
Idea
The idea was to set up a series of live tests about new features to be found in Volvo Trucks. The tests had to be relevant and demonstrate specific qualities of
the trucks but in a spectacular and entertaining way. This was in order to generate viral hits and a subsequent wave of (free) media publicity.
The first video was 'The Ballerina Stunt', which was featured on 75,000 websites and blogs in 225 countries reaching 162 million people.
'The Hook' video, with Volvo CEO Claes Nilsson suspended from a crane high above Gothenburg, gained 2.5 million views in eight weeks.
'The Chase' was created as a successor to the other viral videos, demonstrating the agility of a Volvo FL as it evaded the running bulls in the narrow streets of Ciudad Rodrigo. As well as the video, an online experience was created at www.thechase360.com. Using click and drag technology, the viewer could view the chase in 360o or from the point of view of the truck, the runners, the bulls or from a helicopter above.
Results
Volvo Trucks live tests have – so far 14.9 million views on YouTube. The films have been featured on thousands of news sites, reaching from Huffington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Mirror, The Sun, Die Welt, Republica, El Mundo to numerous automotive and trucking blogs all around the world. The have also been aired on the news on CNN, NBC, Discovery RTL, (German public service) Antena3 (biggest channel in Spain) and other tv stations.
Our Thoughts
At Google they talk about the principle of the three H’s if you want to build brand equity online. Hub, hygiene and hero.
Volvo Trucks have got the three H’s mastered perfectly. The hub is their YouTube channel, on which they now have some 325 videos.
Viewers could watch the action from the perspective of the bulls or the runners.
Several of these are ‘hero’ videos – amazing demos like ‘The Ballerina’ and the more recent ‘Hook’ as well as ‘The Chase’. But then there are also videos about how the trucks brake well, about the space in the cab, with testimonials from drivers as short films about the fuel system etc.
In other words, you can drill down deep into the product once you have been brought to the hub by a hero video.
Forsman & Bodenfors really do understand digital. And extending ‘The Chase’ into an experience is a further step in the right direction.
Admirable stuff.