| Title | MBOARD PROJECT |
| Brand | MERCEDES-BENZ |
| Product/Service | MERCEDES-BENZ |
| Category |
C03. LIVE EVENTS |
|
Entrant Company
|
BBDO PORTUGAL Lisbon, PORTUGAL
|
|
Advertising Agency
|
BBDO PORTUGAL Lisbon, PORTUGAL
|
Credits
| Rui Silva/Marco Pacheco |
BBDO Portugal |
Creative Director |
| Rita Bastos |
BBDO Portugal |
Account Director |
| Marco Pacheco/Rui Silva/Pedro Gonçalves/Felippe Motta |
BBDO Portugal |
Copywriter |
| Ruben Rodrigues |
BBDO Portugal |
Art Director |
| Pedro Gonçalves |
BBDO Portugal |
Head Of Digital |
| João Vitória |
BBDO Portugal |
Cto |
|
XPAND IT |
Telemetry Team |
|
MINISTÉRIO FILMES |
Production |
|
SAIS DE PRATA |
Photography |
Brief Explanation
Although Nazaré’s Zon North Canyon event has a very high profile, Mercedes-Benz wasn’t getting the awareness they wanted as a sponsor. That was the challenge: making this sponsorship visible and relevant throughout the event.
The Brief
Every year, big wave rider Garrett McNamara challenges Nazaré’s giant waves in Portugal. This is where he set the world record when he rode a 34-meter wave. Mercedes-Benz is the official provider of his vehicles in Nazaré.
How the final design was conceived
We came up with the idea of creating a Mercedes-Benz surfboard. A unique surfboard for Nazaré’s giant waves and Garrett’s style. The fastest board ever built. We built it and tested it with Garrett, the engineering and design team at Mercedes-Benz AMG in Stuttgart. We used a mix of carbon-fiber and Kevlar. The design had to be on par with the storied Silver Arrow line of vehicles from Mercedes-Benz. And if this wasn’t enough we built a custom-made telemetry system that would allow us to register Garrett’s top speed riding the monster waves of Nazaré.
Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market
The results went far beyond our initial desires. The news of the making of a Mercedes-Benz surfboard travelled the world. Besides primetime news shows and features in newspapers the surfboard marked it’s presence on The Huffington Post, The Verge, PSFK, Hypebeast, The Inertia, Surfer, Surfline, Surf Europe, Trip, Design Boom, Design Father, Red Bull’s website and Pamela Anderson’s twitter account. Earned media surpassed one million euros of investment. And the amount of comments of individuals expressing their desire to own a surfboard manufactured by Mercedes-Benz is just impossible to count.