Volvo X Google Lens X NYTimes
A bold print ad that leveraged Google Lens to reveal the message
VOLVO’S FIRST ELECTRIC VEHICLE INTRODUCED USING GOOGLE LENS TECHNOLOGY…
Google partnered with The New York Times to create an entirely Google Lens-enabled edition of the music edition of their magazine. As an exclusive brand partner, Volvo was given the opportunity to help champion this new extended-reality medium. Volvo’s first all-electric vehicle with Android Auto built in - the XC40 Recharge - had just started to accept pre-orders, but mass awareness of the vehicle was still limited.
Insight:
The NYT Magazine audience are keen tech adopters and appreciate a good story, so we needed a way to use our Google partnership that showcased the XC40 Recharge in way that would engage and inspire.
Print Execution featured on inside cover of New York Times Magazine
Idea:
Rather than give away everything in the print ad, we developed a bold and unexpected approach: despite the prominent placement Volvo had secured on the inside cover, we did not display the Volvo logo. Instead, readers were invited to ‘reveal the ride’ by activating Google Lens - which would reveal the XC40 Recharge building from the bare chassis, showing features including Android Auto integration.
Tapping through from the Lens experience brought the viewer to a bespoke landing page, which built on the features introduced by the film and carried on the campaign language.
From here viewers could discover more or share their email to stay informed on the product.
Results:
Our execution was the most engaging piece of content in the entire magazine, not only more engaged than all other ads, but also more so than the cover or any editorial.
We secured the #1 amount of impressions, #1 amount of users who experienced the ad, and secured the highest average watch time of any piece of content in the magazine.
We successfully secured a new, highly engaged audience for the Volvo brand, with a high percentage of visitors to the site being first time visitors.
This execution has been help up as a best-in-class Google Lens experience from a brand.
“The Volvo ad was the best living surface example. Simply best in class” - Google Product Leader