The All-New Volvo XC60 campaign was a monster effort with a ton of moving parts. But John once again proved leadership is his strong suit by piloting a multilayered campaign that would tease and then ignite awareness and conversation around Volvo’s redesigned SUV. Key elements of the campaign include:

Driving Forces
A series of 6-second online teaser ads showcased the dynamic performance of the XC60 in an innovative way. Both Google and YouTube have identified the Driving Forces ads as best practices in regard to 6-second videos. The results were stunning: 184% Model Search Lift, 16% Model Awareness Lift, 27% Increase in Click Through Rate (CTR) compared to auto industry benchmark and 18% Cost Per Millions Savings.

Eclipse
To highlight elements on the main campaign and showcase their new US factory, Volvo partnered with CNN to bring the 2017 solar eclipse to everyone with an unprecedented immersive digital experience on August 21.

To provide the most extraordinary view of the total eclipse, four new Volvo XC60s raced the sun across the country, each with an eclipse enthusiast along for the ride to offer a unique perspective. The SUVs were also equipped with a 360° camera to stream the event live on CNN’s website and mobile app. Volvo retailers across the country were provided the appropriate assets to activate the event in their showrooms and promote test drives of the XC60.

The results were truly out of this world:

26 Million Unique Visitors
24 Million Video Starts
6.6 Million Total Live Streams
3.8 Million CNN Live Video Starts
2.8 Million Facebook 360 Views
48,000+ Unique Visitors on Destination Page
10x Daily Hand-Raisers Over Average

The Choice
To connect with their target audience in a meaningful way, Volvo partnered with Vox Creative, a website that essentially “explains the news.” Through a simple, compelling social experiment, they set out to demonstrate the differences between those who embrace the beautiful unknown of the future ahead of them, and those who prefer to remain safely in the confines of the world they already know.

Three films were created: one long-form film documenting the experiment and two Vox explainer videos. The goal was to provide viewers with the understanding that embracing the unknown is a choice everyone must make—and if they are the type of person who embraces the unknown, they should consider the all-new Volvo XC60.

The videos align with the tone, style and length of Vox explainer videos, and serve as a driver to The Choice page on Vox.com and the Volvo XC60 campaign landing page. While Volvo anticipates a highly successful outcome for The Choice, results are pending campaign wrap-up.

Embrace the Future
With John at the helm, Volvo developed the Embrace the Future campaign to “tell a story” rather than talk about feature benefits.

Having proved that nonlinear storytelling works, Volvo would run three 30-second spots in random order on national TV, each revealing new clues to a larger story in a purposeful, intriguing fashion. Ultimately, the mystery generated by Embrace the Future would be paid off in a long-form film.

The Embrace the Future campaign launched in October of 2017, with a full media push scheduled for early 2018. Results are pending campaign wrap-up.

DATE

July, 2016

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AGENCY

Grey NYC

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CREDITS

Client: John Militello
ECD: Matt O’Rourke
Account Director: Janique Helson
AD: Neil Maclean
Director: Dan Difelice - Biscuit (Embrace the Future), Otto Bell, CNN Courageous (Eclipse), Vox (The Choice), Jeff Cronenweth Townhouse productions (Driving Forces)
Editor: Danielle Sclafani – Uppercut NYC
Recognition: See Eclipse below