The book used is Principles of Marketing 17th edition by Kotler and Armstrong specifically chapter 14 but using all relevant information needed.

Lewaly Company Case Volvo Trucks: Integrated Marketing Communications of Epic Proportions When you think of Volvo, you probably think of the boxy and se- the same with Volvo cars. the Volvo Group is now a separate date, practical and safe automobiles made in Sweden- the ones company and one of the largest producers of commercial trucks professors and young, married couples with children use to cart in the world under various brands including Renault Trucks, Mack their groceries home. This story is about another Volvo- the Volvo Trucks, UD Trucks, and its largest, Volvo Trucks. Group, maker of trucks. And not just SUVs or pickups, mind you. A few years ago, Volvo Trucks faced a big challenge. It was We're talking about full-sized, heavy-duty semi-trucks and trail- preparing for its first major product launch in 20 years-five new ers, mining and construction vehicles, and buses. Once one and truck models in one year. With that launch, Volvo Trucks needed424 PART 3 | Designing a Customer Value-Driven Strategy and Mix an integrated communication strategy that would achieve a ofty goal-to get people worldwide to talk about its com- After that first successful effort, Volvo Trucks and the agency created a set of five more films. In "The Technician," a Volvo semi mercial trucks. Volvo Trucks wasn't just interested in creating roars over the head of an engineer buried up to his buzz among its normal target set of corporate truck buyers. It to his neck in sand demonstrating the truck's 12-inch ground clearance. "The Hook" wanted to appeal to regular folks in a way that would heighten provides a dramatic testimonial of the strength of Volvo truck their awareness of the brand, elevate the brand's cool factor, tow hooks, given by Volvo Trucks president Claes Nilsson as he and get people talking, sharing, and supporting the brand from stands perched atop a Volvo truck with trailer suspended high Singapore to Swaziland. How it accomplished this-and how above a harbor. "Hamster" demonstrates "ease of steering," with Volvo Trucks keeps the brand in the public eye today - is an ad- a tiny hamster named Charlie steering a huge mining dump truck vertising coup of epic proportions. by running on an exercise wheel attached to the truck's steering wheel. And in an interactive 360-degree experience illustrating A Consumer Approach maneuverability, "The Chase" provides the point of view of a Typically, when a B-to-B company wants to promote a new Volvo truck as it runs from bulls through the tight streets of a product, it goes through an agency that specializes in its indus- Spanish town. try. That's what Volvo Trucks did previously, working with vari- The timed release of each of these videos was accompanied ous agencies through different types of traditional media includ by various supporting promotional efforts designed to extend the ing print advertising, PR, and direct mail. But as it prepared to campaign's message and drive traffic to YouTube. Volvo Truck unleash its all-new line of heavy-duty trucks, the Swedish truck- sponsored print ads in the trucking press as well as interviews ing firm realized that the media landscape had fundamentally with Volvo engineers, released in both print and video. The changed since its last major launch. And the new media world videos had another purpose-to increase the social media fan called for a different approach to broadcasting the brand's mes- base for Volvo Trucks, building toward the campaign's grand sage-something unique that would outsmart competitors. finale. In little more than a year and on the eve of the debut of the Rather than go through a B-to-B agency with experi- campaign's dramatic video climax, the number of Volvo Trucks ence in commercial trucks, Volvo Trucks enlisted Forsman & YouTube subscribers had increased 2,300 percent to 85,000 Bodenfors-one of Sweden's leading creative agencies with while the Volvo Trucks Facebook page experienced a 1,700 per- a history of groundbreaking consumer campaigns for the likes cent increase in fans to 290,000. of IKEA, UNICEF, and Volvo Cars. As Forsman & Bodenfors But it was the final installment in the first round of the "Live developed the campaign, its research revealed two important Tests" campaign that hit the ball out of the park. In "Epic Split," insights about commercial trucks. First, long-haul truckers love martial arts superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme stood with one their trucks, forming an emotional connection with them that foot on the mirrors of two side-by-side shiny new gold Volvo resembles the relationship between regular drivers and their daily trucks as they moved progressively farther apart in reverse, stabi- rides. Second, a large volume of influencers have an impact on lizing their distance at the point where the Muscles from Brussels truck-buying decisions-a set that includes friends, family mem- is poised in full and perfect splits. The dramatic video highlighted bers, colleagues, bosses, and even the clients and businesses Volvo Dynamic Steering-an electronically controlled mechanism whose products the trucks carry. that adjusts 2,000 times per second for unsurpassed precision. Armed with these insights, the team set out to create an in- Within a month, the video had drawn 60 million YouTube hits, go- tegrated campaign that would amaze experienced truckers by ing on to become the most viral non-Super Bowl automotive ad of showcasing the new trucks' features while simultaneously cap- all time. Also by the end of the month, Volvo Trucks delivered 31 tivating the general public with breathtaking demonstrations. percent more trucks to dealers than it had for the same month the Traditional television advertising was out of reach budgetwise. It previous year. was also not a good fit for the kinds of messages the campaign needed to communicate or the types of buzz the agency hoped The Synergy of IMC to create. So Forsman & Bodenfors turned to social media. The Although each piece of the "Live Tests" campaign was laudable result was a campaign dubbed "Live Tests," a fully integrated n itself, the sum of the parts produced a result more impressive promotional effort rooted in a series of documentary-style films than any of the stunts performed in the campaign videos. Ac- designed to have impact on a Hollywood scale. cording to Forsman & Bodenfors, the campaign produced more than 100 million video views, 8 million social media shares, and Appealing to the Masses with "Live Tests" more than 20,000 editorial features. It also produced thousands The first film to go up on Volvo Trucks' YouTube channel was "The of video spoofs good for another 50 million views, including Ballerina," a three-minute "making of"-style video in which world "Greetings from Chuck," a video for the holidays featuring a CGI record-holding highliner Faith Dickey walked a wire between two Chuck Norris performing splits on the wings of two Lockheed speeding Volvo trucks, completing the run just in time to duck C-5s while a lit-up, tree-shaped pyramid of military paratroop- as the trucks entered two opposing sides of a tunnel, violently ers stood on his head. In all, the media impact of the campaign snapping the tight wire. The video was designed to demonstrate was valued at more than $170 million. The campaign received so the tremendous steering precision of the new Volvo trucks. Al- many awards -including the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix at though the "Live Tests" campaign eventually panned out into a Cannes-that Advertising Age dubbed Volvo Trucks the "Most multi-feature, long-running campaign, it was only after "The Bal- Awarded Advertiser of the Year." erina" was posted that the campaign's strategy began to take The campaign also produced measurable behaviors among shape. "When you create for YouTube, you can't plan too much target customers. In a survey of 2,200 commercial truck owners, in advance because you really don't know how. .. popular an idea half of those who saw the videos indicated they were more likely or piece of film will be," recounts Bjorn Engstrom, senior partner to choose Volvo for their next purchase, while a third a third of respon sited a Volvo Trucks with the ad agency. dents had either contacted a dealer or visited aCHAPTER 14 Engaging Consumers and Communicating Customer Value 425 website . " If we talk to our salespeople in our 140 markets all or the world," said Anders Vilhelmsson, PR director for Volvo Questions for Discussion Trucks , " they tell us very often one of the first things prospective 14-18 Which promotional mix elements does Volvo Trucks customers bring up in conversation is the viral film." use'? With all this success achieved on a shoestring budget, it's no surprise that Volvo Trucks extended the "Live Tests" campaign. 14-19 How does the "Live Tests" campaign demonstrate the Following the same model set by the first six videos , the team characteristic of integrated marketing communication? What grade would you give "Live Tests" on integration produced some unlikely pieces, including a race between a effectiveness? Volvo tractor and a supercar as well as a hidden-camera expose showing the reaction of a valet as a Volvo truck pulls up in front 14-20 Is the consumer marketing approach taken by "Live of a black-tie casino. But the most recent video became one Tests" appropriate for all B-to-B marketers? Explain. of the most successful entries of the campaign to date. "Look 14-21 What challenges does Volvo Trucks face in maintaining Who's Driving" puts a darling British four-year-old behind the the success it has achieved with this campaign? remote controls of the Volvo FMX-a dump truck that the ad proclaims is "the toughest truck we ever built." Sources: Steve Skinner, "Sweden's Secrets to Success with. Trucks," Rather than just a clever series of stunts for the sake of stunts, Owner Driver, June 22, 2016, www.ownerdriver.com.au/industry- "Live Tests" pulled off a monumental task. By selecting features news/1606/swedens-secrets-to-success-with-trucks/; Tessa Wegert "How Volvo Trucks Turned B2B Video into a Viral Art Form," Contently, with high relevance to both its new models and the target audi- March 18, 2016, https://contently.com/strategist/2016/03/08/volvo-trucks- ence, Volvo communicated those features through stories that turned-b2b-video-viral-artform/; David Griner, "A 4-Year-Old Pilots a Volvo captivated viewers everywhere. The campaign achieved the goal Truck in Rollicking Follow-Up to 'Epic Split," Adweek, December 3, 2015, of successfully launching five new trucks, with phase two ultimately www.adweek.com/print/168418; Meg Carter, "How Volvo Trucks Pulled producing a social media fan base double the size of the one Volvo Off an Epic Split and Game-Changing Campaign," Fast Company, June Trucks had achieved following the first phase of the campaign. The 18, 2016, www.fastcocreate.com/3031654/cannes/how-volvo-trucks- campaign has also helped Volvo Trucks to achieve record sales pulled-off-an-epic-split-and-a-game-changing-campaign; David Griner, "Undivided Attention: How 'Epic Split' Became the Buzziest Ad at Cannes," and market share worldwide. Even more amazing, Volvo Trucks Adweek, June 16, 2014, www.adweek.com/print/158248; and "Six Years did all that on a shoestring budget. In the world of integrated mar of Ambitious Integrated Campaigns," www.dandad.org/en/d-ad-integrated- keting communications, "Live Tests" is truly an epic. marketing-campaigns/, accessed July 2016. MyMarketingLab Go to mymktlab.com for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following Assisted-graded writing questions: 14-22 Name and describe the types of appeals marketers use when designing marketing communication messages. What message structure issues must be considered when creating messages? 14-23 Select an advertisement for a national brand. What type of appeal is the advertiser using? Describe the message structure used. Create an advertise- ment for the brand that communicates the same information but uses a different type of appeal and message structure. Most mers