How do you get people all over the world to talk about trucks? That was the challenge when Volvo Trucks introduced five new models within 12 months. The Ballerina Stunt was the first to set off the new strategy - go wide, hit tight.

The target group for trucks is a complex mix of everyone from the CFO of a large, multinational corporation to a driver just starting out in the job. It is extremely difficult to find cost-effective communication channels to reach this diverse target group.

The Ballerina Stunt was the first step in rewriting the strategies on how to execute a global campaign without any traditional media. This case shows that by focusing on a strong content driven approach the creative idea can become so powerful that the viewers are converted into a media channel them self.

The Ballerina Stunt started on YouTube as a teaser for the new Volvo FH truck. Within 48 hours it was the most watched video in the Cars & Vehicles category, worldwide. (The Ballerina Stunt has now had more than 9,6 million views on YouTube.)

The influential Huffington Post was among the first to pick up on the success and wrote, ”Whoever said it should be boring to market trucks?!" Shortly afterwards The Ballerina Stunt was aired on Good Morning America, CNN, ABC News, NBC, CBS - and the ball was rolling.

The Ballerina Stunt was featured on 75, 000 news sites and blogs in 225 countries, reaching more than 162 million people. The live broadcast had nearly 40,000 viewers on the web, in addition to the 8,000 key clients and journalists who attended.

The use of eBay in Europe as a launch platform became big news in the trucking industry. And in business media. This also led to widespread media coverage. In ten days we counted 170,000 visitors to the eBay auction – an astonishing figure in view of the fact that there are close to 400,000 truck buyers in all of Europe.After ten days the very first Volvo FH truck was sold for twice the market price.

All in all the earned media value was calculated to 29 million Euro.

The effects where massive. All the brand values increased especially innovative, modern and leading in safety. The consideration increased by 43% and 47% of the customers and prospect customer took action or intended to contact Volvo for further information.