Title	THE EPIC SPLIT
Brand	VOLVO TRUCKS
Product/Service	THE NEW VOLVO FM
Category	A07. CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
Entrant Company	FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Advertising Agency	FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
PR Agency	BE ON Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production Company	FOLKE Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Cilla Pegelow/Olle Victorin	Forsman/Bodenfors	Advertiser's Supervisor
Britta Malmberg	Forsman/Bodenfors	Account Manager
Anders Eklind/Sophia Lindholm	Forsman/Bodenfors	Art Director
Martin Ringqvist/Björn Engström	Forsman/Bodenfors	Copywriter
Jerry Wass	Forsman/Bodenfors	Designer
Tobias Nordström	Forsman/Bodenfors	Planner
Alexander Blidner	Forsman Bodenfors	Agency Film Producer
Peter Gaudiano	Forsman Bodenfors	Web Producer
Swiss	Swiss	Post Production
Andreas Nilsson	Folke Film	Director
Joi Persson	Folke Film	Producer
Only Time Ryan/Ryan/Ni Bhraonain)/Performed By Enya	Only Time Ryan/Ryan/Ni Bhraonain)/Performed By Enya	Music
Ed Wild	Ed Wild	D.o.p
Peter Brandt	Peter Brandt	Editor
Plop	Plop	Sound Design Arrangement

The Campaign

Volvo Truck's objective was to attain maximum interest in the global launches of its new models:Volvo FH, FM, FMX, FL and FE. Without a global media budget at its disposal, this was quite a challenge. And one that was not simplified by the diversity of the target audience ranging from CFOs to truck drivers. It became clear to us that the various purchasers seek information from a wide circle of colleagues and contacts including friends and family. This became central to the strategy: to go for a much wider audience in order to reach the purchasers. For this to work we needed a number of spectacular ideas that would attract the attention of the press, only then could we afford to reach out. We set up a series of product tests that would demonstrate specific features of the trucks in a way that would thrill and intrigue just about anyone. The films of these (live) tests would generate viral hits and impetus for the press to air and publish them. And so the PR strategy had its focus point: the phenomena of these daring product tests, carried out for real, in front of the camera, available for anybody to see on the +72 million people have watched the Epic Split on YouTube generating an extensive media coverage generating an earned media value of €87 million

The Brief

How do you get people all over the world to talk about trucks? That was the challenge when Volvo Trucks introduced five new models within 12 months. They wanted to stir up excitement for all their new features, not only among customers, but also among a wide range of influencers like truck drivers, friends and family..The insights of the planning done before the campaign stated that the target audience is a diverse group of purchasers. Mostly, these purchasers are not the people using the trucks. And so they seek help and advice from a wide network of contacts: drivers, colleagues, workshop acquaintances,financial advisors, competitors, customers, friends and even family members.

Results

See confidential information.

Execution

The Epic split was the Grand Finale of the fall of 2013. Part of the PR strategy was to tell all media/publicist hints about the coming Live Test films, before they went live. In this way we increased the fan base and the interest from all type of media was massive. • November 12th- two days before the main video The Epic Split, a teaser went live. The objective with this teaser film was to create buzz and conversation for the main video. • November 14th, the Epic Split was launched. A number of titles were identified as 'Game Changers' for the campaign,with the aim of an article within the first couple of days. These game changers were: Mashable,CNN,Distractify, Huffington Post, LA Times, ABC News, Wall Street Journal. With growing numbers of the fanbase on YouTube and Facebook, the engagement, shares and comments increased on all Live Test Films.

The Situation

Without a global media budget, we needed to launch 5 new trucks on a global market. The target audience is a diverse group of purchasers. Mostly, the purchasers are not the people using the trucks. And they seek help and advice from a wide network of contacts: drivers, colleagues, workshop acquaintances, financial advisors, competitors, customers, friends and family members. No matter how small the the core target audience looks on paper, we saw no option but to go wide in order to penetrate the vast number of people involved. The Epic Split was part of the launch of Volvo FM.

The Strategy

The PR stategy initially used the viral interest being shown for the films as leverage. Press releases were sent to a large number of bloggers, publishers and news channels. For each new film, the message was adapted to suit the segment and theme of the different media channels, so that the most relevant angle was used. Viral marketing and social media alone would not be enough. To reach a critical mass in the trucking industry and among those who have a relationship to the trucking industry we needed the press to build momentum. Both mainstream, automotive and truck specific varieties.