The Greatest Interception Ever
Volvo Cars2015
The Greatest Interception Ever is a 2015 real-time social campaign (Twitter) for Volvo Cars, created by Grey, New York.
Why it works
Volvo bought no airtime in the 2015 Super Bowl, so it borrowed its rivals’. Whenever another carmaker’s commercial aired during the game, viewers were invited to tweet #VolvoContest with the name of someone who deserved a new XC60; every tweet drew an automatic reply leading to a short nomination form, and five cars were given away. Devised by Grey New York, it is studied as a textbook ambush of the year’s costliest ad break, when 30 seconds cost $4.5 million: second-screen behaviour and hyper-targeted social activity turned competitors’ spending into a conversation about Volvo. The agency reported more than 55,000 tweets during the broadcast, 230 million earned media impressions and a 70.7 per cent year-on-year rise in February XC60 sales. Cannes gave it the 2015 Direct Lions Grand Prix, the jury praising it as smart, strategic, creative and real-time, and it won a One Show Gold Pencil in 2016.
Techniques
- Real-time and newsjacking Whenever another carmaker's commercial airs during the big game, viewers are prompted to tweet live, and every tweet gets an instant automatic reply.
- Participation Viewers nominate someone who deserves a new car by tweeting a hashtag, with five cars given away.
- Comparison Without buying airtime, the brand ambushes rivals' costly ad slots, turning their spending into a conversation about Volvo.
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