2009 PRO Awards: From Sweden With Löv Tour

Agency: Arnold Worldwide
Client: Volvo Cars of North America

Volvo’s campaign for the launch of its XC60 crossover vehicle promoted the design and beauty of the car, while reinforcing what the company is known for — premium quality and craftsmanship. Through a 54-dealership tour, Volvo gave customers, prospects, journalists and retailers an early look at the new car, while also providing training to dealer staff.

Playing on the vehicle’s Swedish heritage, each showroom was transformed into an authentic Swedish experience with a historic gallery. Focusing primarily on safety, the gallery showed the progress Volvo has made over the years and where it is going in the future. Volvo hired Swedish emcees to lead the events, furnished them with traditional Swedish food and gave each attendee a box of Swedish chocolates to take home.

Visitors had the opportunity to test drive the car through a course designed to highlight the City Safety feature, in which the car stops by itself. Lipstick cameras were installed to capture consumers’ reactions as the car appeared to be driving head-on into a row of poles. Some of the footage has been integrated into a TV commercial.

Email, geotargeted banners and direct mail drove attendees to the events. Online media included YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and thecarthatstopsitself.com, a blog that gave consumers more information about the XC60 and answered FAQs. PR was used to publicize the tour and journalists were invited to the events.

Overall, from Sweden With Löv generated 3,000 qualified leads, while 3% of attendees placed a pre-order. Purchase consideration exceeded goal by 15%.