GOLD — Volvo Cars of North America — “Augmented Reality,” MPGMC US

In 2011, Volvo was launching an updated model of the s60 in America. The T5 (250 HP) would be targeted at an audience who often chose German luxury models over Volvo. The challenge was to promote the Volvo s60 as fun to drive, and a leader in the performance luxury sedan category.

Market research showed that the target indexed high for using accessing their phones to access sports information as well as watching video.
Leveraging these results, Volvo created an app where users competed in a race around a virtual track and they could see for themselves how fun the car was to drive. Finishers with the best times were entered into a drawing for a chance to win an iPad 2. A masthead unit on YouTube drove consumers to the contest.

Using cutting-edge technology allowed Volvo to position itself as a leader and achieve industry-smashing success rates: more than 33.5 million users, 6.5 million rich media interactions, and a 14,000% lift in site visitation.