• by Larissa Faw , April 8, 2016

Volvo and its agency Grey are introducing the "Thumb Drive" campaign to demonstrate the tech offerings and experience provided by the Volvo XC60.  

The Instagram campaign works by placing a thumb to a mobile screen and then using it like a game to let some the XC60’s advanced features digitally guide the user safely through a city. Users can avoid "LA paparazzi with Pedestrian Detection, or maneuver around New York cabs with Forward Collision Warning."

The concept was created in response to the Facebook / Instagram Hack-a-Thon which the auto maker hosts once a year to focus on a different functionality within a particular channel. 

Last year, the focus was having agencies develop Instagram video and/or Facebook carousel units. For the new campaign, Facebook Carousel Ads offer a very visual way to reconnect with the consumer after they’ve watched the Instagram Thumb Drive video. "Basically, how do we get people to stop scrolling through their feed and actually engage?" is the challenge according to the agency. 

The thumb drive idea stemmed from an insight that found 90% of Instagram content is consumed on a mobile device, meaning the thumb is at the controls, or in the case of cars, in the driver’s seat.

"Grey built out the idea as a way of gamifying video within Instagram, knowing that video is extremely important in the social space and video views on Instagram are continuously climbing," the agency stated. 

Through this cross-platform strategy, Grey and Volvo were able to retarget and re-engage users after they’d seen the Thumb Drive videos - from Instagram, over to Facebook - and continue to give them information about the XC60, ultimately driving them to the website and hopefully further into the conversion funnel.