Volvo - 6 billion hours - (2015)

I swear, soon there will be a Cannes award specifically for creative use of the youtube pre-roll. Volvo’s new XC60 was released with 60 new car feature innovations. 60. That's a lot of new features. Instead of one standard pre-roll ad, Grey Canada set out to hyperlink all the features to “6 billion hours”; the total amount of YouTube content that is typically viewed over the course of a month. That way, the pre-roll ad you were forced to watch would feel more customized to the YouTube video you were waiting to watch…and catch your attention. Very clever indeedy.

They hyperlinked specific YouTube themes and subject matter to specific car features. Team members from Creative, Media and Analytics all worked together 24hrs/day, creating hundreds of XC60 pre-roll videos that delivered trending & topical messages in real time. In addition to ‘standard’ YouTube themes and tags.

VOLVO "6 Billion Hours"
Agency: Grey Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Patrick Scissons
Creative Director: James Ansley
Art Director: Rob Trickey
Writer: Dave Barber
Agency Producer: Erica Metcalfe
Account Service: Mariam Saab, Paul Curtin
Production Specialist: Biko Franklin
Technology: John Breton
Media Agency: HAVAS
Media Planning: Mark-Olivier Thibault, Kirk Cavell
Film Production: Sugino Studio
Director: Shin Sugino
DOP: James Gardner
Producers: Andy McLeod, Dan Arki
Editorial: Saints
Editor: Melanie Hider
Colourist: Eric Whipp, Alter Ego
Visual Effects: Topix - Marco Polsinell, Eugene Marchio
Audio House: Apollo Music - Daenen Bramberger, Tom Hutch, Spencer Hall