We always talk about ‘borrowed interest’ in the advertising game but I don’t think I’ve seen a case quite so “hot right now” like this one.
If you haven’t heard of New Moon, the second book and soon to be released movie in the Twilight series, then you probably don’t have any hormonal women in your household; haven’t seen the front cover of ANY gossip, woman’s or entertainment magazine for the past few months; or are not one of the over 70 million people that have bought one of the books.
In a nutshell, the series is about a girl (Bella) who falls in love with a vampire (Edward), has a best friend who is a werewolf (Jacob), who both fight over who loves her more, and then she spends about the next 3,000 pages deciding which one she can’t live without. Insert worldwide phenomenon here.
In the first book Twilight, the main love interest character of Edward drives a silver Volvo C30 which is featured prominently in the movie too. In the movie sequel New Moon, he has upgraded to the Volvo XC60.
Volvo, not one to let a marketing opportunity like this pass by, are cashing in big time on the legion of loyal fans. Volvo created an entire microsite devoted to their C30 back when the first movie became a worldwide hit and now they’re backing it up again for the sequel.
I introduce you to What Drives Edward – Volvo’s latest microsite dedicated to a competition for fans to win an XC60 just like Edward drives in New Moon.
Talk about genius product placement. Considering the books mentioned these cars way before it was ever known that movie adaptations would be made, it’s hard to know whether it was the publishers or Volvo themselves who saw the opportunity to cash in on this.
Either way, I’m sure it isn’t hurting Volvo’s reputation or working against building brand awareness among the tween-teen fans that will be looking to purchase their first cars pretty soon!
Pamela Olah is an Account Manager at BCM Brisbane
Can this make the Mumsy Volvo brand cool? Can some Gen Y’s (and others) please share their opinion.
I’m Gen Y and I already think Volvos are cool. I liked what they did with the C30 launch, not sure about this one but that’s maybe because I am not into the Twilight series. Looks clever enough though and it makes sense.
I’m not a big Twilight fan either (Team Edward or Jacob? Pfft!) but this shows Volvo has its finger on the pulse. So yes, Volvo is cool.
Said another Gen Y.
I’ve always thought Volvos are a bit daggy (sorry, Georgia!) but I’ve seen Twilight and Edward did seem pretty sexy and masculine racing about in his Volvo…
I must be missing something here but I don’t think much thought has gone into this. It was purely opportunistic. The majority of the target market who read these books & watch these movies are young females who are not potential Volvo drivers. Sure it will generate strong awareness & the aspiration to own a Volvo but a Volvo XC60 is for males & way out of their price league. They will need to convince daddy or their high flying boyfriend to buy one. They won’t sell many actual cars & the dealers will be disappointed & annoyed that they spent all this money on a passing fad. Bad strategy IMO. Does nothing for the brand.
Although the series is clearly written for tweens who don’t have $60K+ to spare for a new Volvo, or even a drivers licence, the reality is the success of Twilight is in its hugely broad appeal – even Obama is in to it (yes, he is using ‘bonding with his 10 year old daughter’ as an excuse…just like I use ‘keeping on top of popular culture’ as my excuse for reading the latest trashy mag).
So back to Kevin’s comment on Volvo being a mumsy brand, this alignment is definitely something Volvo should be cashing in on, mumsy with a splash of vampire chic. I can see all those 35+ ‘yummy mummies’ dying to get behind the wheel of Edward Cullen’s car.
BTW the nod to safety on the microsite made me smile, some real creative licence was used to tick that brief mandatory; ‘There’s more to life than a Volvo. There’s having the power to keep safe what you hold most dear’.
Loved Pamela’s Twilight-Volvo post, I think this marketing offers Volvo a whole new level of cool and is an excellent promo tie in.
Totally agree with Alicia…the readership of these books goes way beyond tweens and teens and I bet there are millions of readers that fall within the bounds of those likely to actually buy a Volvo.
Volvo is falling all over this pretty sloppily. Then again, they can’t lose with Twilight fans, who will buy anything remotely associated with the series without a second thought–or a first one, for that matter.
Barina. Yes.
Volvo. No.