Volvo Cars of North America, Your Concept Car
Bronze Winner: 2004 Bulldog Awards, “Product Positioning/Branding”

On March 2, 2004, Volvo Car Corporation introduced a concept car that had never been attempted in a century of auto manufacturing: the first car designed and developed almost exclusively by women. Called “Your Concept Car” (YCC), the vehicle made its worldwide debut at the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland.

Though created from a women’s perspective, the car includes features appealing to everyone, including easier maintenance, clever storage, improved sight lines, computer-aided parking and a sporty exterior.

When Volvo Car Corporation asked its North American division, Volvo Cars of North America, and Haberman & Associates to conduct a promotional event and public relations campaign for the U.S. launch of YCC, the team knew it had a powerful story, sure to generate a massive amount of media impressions.

Challenge: Convey a Vision for the Future, Honor Volvo’s Brand Tradition

Create an event to garner media impressions that could directly support the Volvo brand, build loyalty and drive sales. Position the YCC as a continuation of Volvo’s 75 years of innovation in the auto industry; an extension of Volvo’s more recent introduction of sleek, sporty cars; and, a representation of Volvo’s long commitment of listening to both sexes.

Solution: Three Events, Three Cities, Three Brand Messages

Rather than hold a single promotional event that would generate media coverage just for the sake of generating coverage, Volvo and Haberman took the assignment three steps further, holding three promotional events in three cities at three venues that each supported a distinct brand attribute for Volvo. The venues and the supported brand attributes were: the New York Auto Show (innovation); the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. (design); Wellesley College, Boston (pioneering women). By taking this approach, the PR team was able to continuously provide new angles for media to cover at each stop, broadening the scope of coverage and directly supporting Volvo brand values.

Results: 750 million media impressions, “PR Coup of the New York Auto Show”

Heralded by the New York Times as the “PR coup of the New York Auto Show,” and New York Daily News as the most innovative design at the New York Auto Show, YCC garnered more than 750 million media impressions and coverage in almost every major national consumer print and TV outlet and in hundreds of local outlets. More than one million people attended the auto show and thousands saw the car in Boston and D.C. Surveys distributed at the events and offered online found that people generally felt that while auto manufacturers were not meeting the needs of women satisfactorily, the YCC was long overdue and will lead the industry in the right direction. Though the car was only in a concept stage, consumers (men and women) overwhelmingly felt it was a car they could someday buy.

Feedback

Roger Ormisher, Vice President of Public Affairs, Volvo Cars of North America: “The YCC campaign reached out to a more diverse audience than Volvo had ever done from a PR perspective. Haberman & Associates helped the car spark debate and commentary, and the team generated an amazing amount of impressions. A true PR home run.”