What could be a world record that nobody has tried to set and that would require Nordic expertise from both Nokian Tyres and Valtra? This was the question we pondered for a long time and that started everything.
Matti Tiitinen, Senior Brand Business Manager, Valtra Inc
First, let’s go back in time to 2015 when Nokian Tyres and Valtra made a world record with Juha Kankkunen and the fastest tractor in the world. Along with a world record video, they shot an advertisement film called The Race and created a campaign website and digital advertisement about the new record. In the beginning of 2018, we got an opportunity to plan a sequel for The Race from scratch.
Just a couple of bumps on the road
The project wasn’t the easiest one to take over. Already at the very beginning, there were some expectations defining the video and its content:
- Because of the sponsorship between Nokian Tyres and GRX Team, rally drivers Marcus and Niclas Grönholm were hoped to play a role in the video – even though there wouldn’t be racecar tires as Nokian Heavy Tyres is, of course, all about large tires.
- Valtra, on the other hand, asked if an automatic tractor could be the main vehicle in the video – without a driver. At this point our team faced a real brainteaser: what do we do with the Grönholms then?
- Both Nokian Tyres and Valtra are partners in the 365 SnowHow concept, which is why there were a desire to have snow and snow plowing in the video as well.
- Originally, the shooting location was decided to be on sea ice in Kemi where Valtra had an event in the winter of 2018. It turned out that the ice on the location was partly too thin, so filming there would have been too dangerous.
- As a plan B, an airport in Räyskälä became the final shooting location because the shots were necessary to take in a closed and safe environment. The new concern was now whether there would be snow in the south until the last week of March or not. It was a close call.
“What could be a world record that nobody has tried to set?”
With some creative fuss of the workshops at Bermuda, we were able to come up with an idea where the Grönholms and a driverless snow plowing tractor would fit in the same script.
Suddenly, a dash of Finnish insanity came into the picture. Valtra was tempted to try a new world record, and the desire got even stronger when Top Gear announced it had beaten the previous world record made by Kankkunen. However, Top Gear had used a completely different type of tractor and had beaten the record during the summertime.
Matti Tiitinen – Senior Brand Business Manager, Valtra Inc:
“What could be a world record that nobody has tried to set and that would require Nordic expertise from both Nokian Tyres and Valtra? This was the question we pondered for a long time and that started everything. We figured that our technicians and the programmers of AGCO would, without a doubt, agree to do anything if we pushed them just a little.”
As a result, we decided to shoot a world record of the fastest snow plowing with a driverless tractor. We also edited the script of the Grönholm video so it would be matching with the new world record idea. In other words, we ended up making two videos – a scripted one and a documentary about the making of the snow plowing record.
Views of the video in YouTube during the campaign: 121 202
Views of the video in YouTube during the campaign: 391 663
The Snowrace
The sequel of the campaign The Race with Kankkunen was named fittingly “The Snowrace”. We created a campaign website for The Snowrace where it was possible to win a trip to Lapland with a rally experience hosted by the Grönholms. The site also introduces the Valtra T254 world record tractor as well as Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta TRI tire that was used to make the first world record.
Website visitors during the campaign: 42 567
The amount of the raffle participants at the website: 2 135
But did it make any sense?
In hindsight after completing the project, we are grateful for Valtra for pushing us further and because their technology masterminds didn’t give up on the automatized tractor, even though it almost fell after hitting a rock-hard pile of snow – which luckily was recorded as well. After the new world record was successfully set, the campaign made itself to internationals news and both Nokian Tyres and Valtra received loads of media visibility.
The value of the earned media visibility outweighed the costs of the campaign multiple times. Source: Meltwater
Toni Silfverberg – Head of Sales and Marketing, Nokian Heavy Tyres:
“Both Nokian Tyres and Valtra are innovative trendsetters in their own business areas. The purpose of this project wasn’t just to make a fun video for social media, but to show the whole world the groundbreaking expertise we have in Finland.”
Victory is a dish best served cold
Tommi Sani, the Creative Director of Bermuda, describes the cooperation:
“It’s always exciting when you get to build a shared story with two different brands. Especially positive was to notice how both customers were strongly committed and excited about the joint project. We also haven’t forgotten the fire in the eyes of the engineers and the product managers when the driverless tractor stormed forward and the snow swooshed everywhere.
Even though the plans for the shooting days were carefully done, fortunately we also prepared ourselves for unwanted surprises that, of course, came along just when they were not supposed to. First the tractor almost tipped over, then the speedometers were run over by the snow plow, a thick snowstorm caught us off guard, and there was an unexpected sailplane in the photographs – all kinds of incidents you could think of.”
We joined many talents to our team from various production companies we had worked with in tens, if not hundreds, of video projects. The Snowrace project ended with both hugs and friendly wrestling matches, and we left home with a bunch of great stories.
