Not every cancer patient has reliable transportation to treatment. How could Chevrolet help?

By turning people purple.

Purple is the color of World Cancer Day, which fell two days after the Super Bowl.

So we worked with the American Cancer Society to raise money for their Road to Recovery program, providing free transportation to and from treatment.

We developed a microsite called Purple Roads with an app that allowed people to purple their Facebook or twitter profiles. For every profile that was “purpled,” GM would donate a dollar. A press release encouraged Chevy partners and GM employees to participate and spread the word. And a :60 spot broke in the first quarter of The Game.

But most Super Bowl advertising is funny. If ours was going to work, all the gags and celebrities in the other spots couldn’t overpower it.

The spot itself is very simple. A man is driving down a road in his truck. A woman with extremely short hair sits next to him. It is literally the dawning of a new day. Titles direct people to chevy.com/purpleroads.

Results were spectacular:

• 1.4 million people turned their profiles purpled raising the maximum amount of money GM had budgeted ($1 million)

• Over 1.7 million youtube views.

• #1 in social audience impact score beating out brands like Budweiser, Coke and Microsoft

• Earned media coverage resulted in more than 25 unique placements and 280,889,646 impressions

Most importantly, we helped cancer patients better navigate their own road to recovery.

Purple Roads campaign started with a landing page that offered people an opportunity to get involved in supporting cancer recovery.

A Purple Your Profile app we created lived prominently on the site, allowed users to easily change their Facebook/Twitter profile pictures purple to support those in recovery around World Cancer Day.

An animated video explaining the campaign was sent to several media outlets, along with online banners.

Super Bowl Sunday, our “Life” spot ran prompting viewers to visit the site. The day after the big game, we took out a full-page ad in USA Today.

- 1.4M Purple Profiles raised awareness and $1M in just under a week

- More than 2,000 Road to Recovery volunteers were created or retained

- Average of 51 new volunteer sign-ups daily during the week of World Cancer Day

- The ACS saw a 505% increase in their Facebook following over their normal rate

- Chevy’s social following grew the most of any brand post-Super Bowl. Fan acquisition accelerated by 500% compared to its normal rate.

- Chevy was one of the top three brands in social buzz pre-Super Bowl

- Most traffic to Chevy.com ever