Volvo Cars of North America has launched what’s being billed as the first fully integrated promotion entailing traditional broadcast commercialmaking, interactive television (iTV), the Internet and wireless technologies. The campaign, which at press time was running during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament—otherwise known as "March Madness"—will enable Volvo and its agency, Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG (MVBMS), New York, to gauge the effectiveness of content produced not only for iTV, but also for personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as Palms, and Internet-capable wireless phones.
The multimedia package represents the first program to emerge from an arrangement entered into at the end of last year by MVBMS, its integrated marketing communications unit FUEL North America (not to be confused with the Razorfish-owned Fuel design studio in Southern California) and bicoastal/international convergent media company Cylo itv (SHOOT, 12/15/00, p. 1). The deal to develop strategies, models and content for iTV and other new media was initially described as being at least a one-year partnership. But the involved parties envision the relationship as continuing well beyond that time frame and evolving into a long-term collaboration yielding content—ranging from shortform pieces to longform programs—that will facilitate a personalized one-on-one communication between advertiser and prospective customer.
Additionally, while Volvo has perennially taken a lead role in experimenting with new media (last year introducing the S60 sports sedan exclusively through online marketing), MVBMS foresees some of its other clients also tapping into the FUEL and Cylo itv resources, according to agency executive producer Priscilla Watts.
MVBMS took the running footage from a recently produced broadcast commercial ("Forward" directed by Peter Smillie of Smillie Films, Santa Monica) and re-cut it into a spot titled "Golden Steering Wheel," the name of a prestigious automotive industry award in Germany. This ad, in turn, was re-edited and re-tracked to create the spot that has been airing on CBS-TV during the NCAA tournament games. That commercial and separate content for iTV and wireless technologies were designed to drive traffic over to Volvo’s interactive resources—most notably its revolvolution.com Web site, where viewers could participate in a contest to win a Volvo S60 sports sedan.
The NCAA broadcast spot simply shows the car being put through its paces along a curved road. A voiceover helps to tie the commercial into the NCAA basketball theme of underdogs surprising higher-ranked teams. "Every year about this time," relates the voiceover, "there’s usually a major upset or two. So why should this year be any different? Presenting the car that drove off with one of Germany’s most coveted new-car awards [the Golden Steering Wheel]—and had the audacity not to be German! The Volvo S60. To savor this Cinderella story and possibly win a Volvo S60, visit revolvolution. com."
Meanwhile, fans watching the basketball games on WebTV are able to click on an icon during interactive Volvo advertising that directs them to the carmaker’s Web site, where they can enter to win the S60. WebTV viewers can also see a Volvo S60 promotional video.
Similarly, people with wireless PDAs can watch a full-color promotional video (on www.pvrguide.com) and enter the contest. Through go2’s wireless sites www.go2.com and www.go2hoops.com, certain properly equipped PDA and mobile phone users can also access the exclusive Volvo-sponsored NCAA scores page and enter the contest directly from the PDA or phone. Data from all entry points will be aggregated into one database, which Volvo, MVBMS, FUEL and Cylo itv will be able to analyze.
Each entry into the contest is confirmed via a personalized rich e-mail from Volvo, which invites entrants to visit the revolvolution.com Web site, where they could win other rewards. For example, consumers who chose to fill out a survey and enter into a dialogue with Volvo were entered into a drawing for tickets and a trip to this weekend’s climactic Final Four stage of the NCAA tournament in Minneapolis.
Also, a live Webcast is slated for April 2—the day of the NCAA championship game—during which the winner of the S60 will be drawn from the field of entries.
Phil Bienert, manager of CRM and E-Business for Volvo Cars of North America, said that the campaign is designed "to provide us with actionable learning about the various forms of new media that we’re using and how consumers are using each of them. What we learn from this program will clearly inform our future decisions regarding these technologies. This isn’t about throwing dollars at a new medium just for the sake of being in the space. It’s about going to the places where customers are, testing how they react to this integrated approach, and leveraging the learning to communicate better with them."
Watts described the integrated campaign as being "a double plus for us … It’s been a great opportunity for us to learn about this area through hands-on experience. And the work provides a good model and demo of what can be done when we talk to our other clients about tapping into new media."
Though neither he nor the agency was yet at liberty to publicly discuss preliminary results in detail, Kirt Gunn, president of Cylo itv, said that the first weekend was "wildly successful, yielding very valuable and rich information." That feedback and info will help in development of future strategies. "Our thrust is to learn from this experience and expand on it for Volvo—to have this inform the next campaign," related Gunn. "We also need to look at these relationships we’ve developed with potential Volvo customers, and to continue to build upon our dialogue with them. We might be able to begin that same relationship with other Messner and FUEL clients, and get even further into investigating strategies that are brand specific."
Watts said that collaboration is key to the process. "I went into this thinking that it would still be largely a television function," she recalled. "Yes, television is an important component of iTV, but a totally integrated effort is required. Success is dependent on multiple people working together and bringing their expertise to the table. An agency producer’s ability to deal with cost and timing issues, and knowing how to put the right pieces together, is helpful to the process. But you need the skillsets that the interactive and marketing people bring. The creative directors at Cylo and the marketers at FUEL were pivotal in the process. But with the benefit of having been through the process, we at the agency—the creatives and producers—are now better equipped to offer more to the next integrated campaign, tying advertising and content together."
Julie Atherton is CEO of the overall Cylo, which encompasses Cylo itv and bicoastal commercial production house Cylo tvc. Executive producer Steve Ross was recently named president of the latter (SHOOT, 3/23, p. 1). The two Cylo companies operate autonomously.
