You’ve got a new car on the streets inbuilt with the latest tech. How do you let Canadian auto buyers know that they’re looking at something truly innovative? You launch a campaign that introduces breakthrough technology of its own. For those in the market for a new car who happened to visit Metro Centre or North York City Centre between Oct. 19 and Nov. 8, they would have seen the new Volvo, which includes a nine-inch touch-screen display.
Those consumers would also have noticed a 40″ mobile screen atop a stand showing a 30-second spot introducing the latest new features of the Volvo XC90. Without needing any external support (think 3D glasses) those potential buyers would have seen those new features in 3D video (see below for the non-3D version of the video).
With Volvo on board, Media City brought in the screens, which were manufactured in China, to help develop a campaign focused more on impact than on channels. The use of this technology for an ad campaign marks a first-ever in Canada.
The activation formed the experimental part of Volvo’s larger campaign and was developed in partnership with Volvo Cars of Canada, with Grey Canada on creative and Havas on media. The buy, which included eight screens across five cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton), was executed in partnership with technology from Media City and Grand Vision Media. The Mundy Marketing Group, which works with Volvo on its experiential executions, also worked on the campaign.
The partnership with Volvo made sense, according to Kirk Cavell, account director at Havas, because it brought more attention to the technologically advanced car. “This is a large and important campaign for Volvo because it’s a new car, and we wanted to be able to get in front of people with the 3D screens with the cool factor.”
Volvo brand ambassadors were present at each of the locations to give those who stopped by a tour of the car and its features and sign them up for test drives. Results of the campaign are not yet in but Cavell says Havas is likely to use the tech for a campaign for a similarly cinematic brand in the future.
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