And the world stood still
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Issue 27 | June 2013
Agency
Partners Andrews Aldridge
Creative Team
Creative Director Paul Snoxell Art Director Carole Eppleston Clive Parsley Copywriter Sarah Pilkington Senior Designer Stephen Rose Digital Design Director Dan Northover
Production Team
Director Gary Holder at Tangerine Films Photographer Trigger at Trigger Shoots Composer Nick Ryan Binaural build Somethin’ Else
Other Credits
Group Account Director Alastair McLeod Project Director Natalie Rothwell General Manager Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Marc Mileau Head of Global Brand Communications & CRM Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Stuart Walker
Date
March 2013
Background
The Wraith was the most powerful and technologically-advanced Rolls-Royce ever. Rolls-Royce wanted a launch campaign that was equally breathtaking. An experience filled with firsts, which challenged perceptions, pushed boundaries and took them into new territory.
Idea
The creative concept was to describe the Wraith as a car so thrilling it stopped the world in its tracks. To illustrate this, 100 cameras were set up at a location in Barcelona with 80 crew members, 35 computers and diamonds worth £500,000.
When all 100 cameras simultaneously took a picture of the car, time seemed to be momentarily suspended.
Online, the film became the heart of a microsite where people could delve deeper into the car and find out more.
It was the finale to a campaign that started with a series of teaser emails that showed tantalizing glimpses of the car, directing the audience to an effortless HTML5 interactive experience set in a binaural soundscape.
Wraith was launched at The Geneva Motor Show. And the world stood still. The campaign didn’t just exceed expectations, it smashed them. Wraith made the world stand still; then sent it into a frenzy. Wraith. A car so thrilling it stops the world in its tracks.
Results
Communications resulted in a 77% increase in web traffic compared to the previous car launch.
The website recorded its highest ever number of daily visits with around 885,000 click-throughs over the campaign duration. 54,000 people interacted with the frozen moment with an average dwell time of two minutes. Nearly 235,000 YouTube views to date. 90,000 Facebook likes.
Our Thoughts
There are three reasons for choosing this campaign for Directory. Firstly, it’s a helluva machine. And with all the loose talk about brands and branding these days, we sometimes forget that the most powerful piece of brand communication is in the product itself, how it looks and how it performs.
Secondly, not that Partners Andrews have referred to it in their submission, but Direct Mail had an important role to play in reaching the people with the money to actually buy one of the cars.
And thirdly because the microsite was extremely well crafted and clickable.
As for the technique, compare and contrast its use here with pages 72-73, where Toyota used it to create personal experiences for Toyota 86 owners.