| Title | MBOARD PROJECT |
| Brand | MERCEDES-BENZ |
| Product/Service | CUSTOMISED SURFBOARD |
| Category |
A01. Innovation |
|
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 |
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 in 2013. Mercedes-Benz is Garrett’s official vehicle supplier. But although Nazaré’s Zon North Canyon event has a very high profile Mercedes-Benz wasn’t getting the awareness they wanted as a sponsor. The challenge was to make this sponsorship visible and relevant throughout the event for a broad audience. The insight was simple: a vehicle supplier has to be where the action is. So we built a Mercedes-Benz surfboard according the rigorous demands of Nazaré’s waves and Garrett’s brand of surfing.
Surfing a wave that reaches above 30 meters is, besides absolutely insane, something that demands a very particular brand of design and technology. The chops make every wave different but always very irregular and highly bumpy. The board to face these waves had to be very stiff in some sections but highly flexible in others, simultaneously working as a shock absorbent and providing a stable center of gravity. Together with Garrett and the engineering and design team at Mercedes-Benz AMG in Stuttgart, we built a very unique surfboard on par with the storied Silver Arrow line of vehicles. We used a mix of carbon-fiber and Kevlar to have a stiff core but flexible on the nose and tail to face the extreme punishment the board would have to withstand on these giant waves. We also developed a custom-made telemetry system that would allow us to register Garrett’s top speed.
Being a prototype exclusively built for Garrett McNamara and the giant waves of Nazaré, this board was not put on sale. It was born to help McNamara push his limits further in the first place. And although it has helped him doing so, our project is not finished yet. In its second year, the MBoard project is moving further up the innovation pyramid, especially concerning materials. For the next attempts to go for a new record wave, we’re now developing two different boards: one made of Portuguese cork, the other made of airplane wings’ foam. Both lighter, more flexible and highly resistant. They will soon se the light and face the North Canyon of Nazaré