Volvo DRIVe Challenge Accepted by 65,000 Facebook Teams

The power of the social media has again been demonstrated, as Volvo announced that its "DRIVe Around the World" challenge became the most installed branded application on Facebook in 2009. The Volvo Fans team, the winners, will be rewarded by a donation from Volvo Cars of 15.000 euros.

"To be number 17 on the list of most installed facebook applications and number one among branded is great and more than we ever expected", says Lukas Dohle, Live Communication and Social Media at Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The team comprised over 140 fans which were able to "drive" their C30 DRIVe all the way from Sweden to Egypt. The game challenged users to virtually drive a Volvo C30 DRIVe to a Facebook friend who lives as close to 1,333 kilometres away as possible. That’s how far a C30 DRIVe can go with one tank of fuel.

The car was then passed on from friend to friend trying to complete a virtual journey around the world within 80 days. The contest began on November 16 and ended February 5.

"DRIVe Around The World was based on the philosophy that any given person is connected to the rest of the world's population by only six degrees of separation. Our idea was to create a compelling experiment that encouraged people to get in touch with one another in a new and unique way," says Lukas Dohle.

The game was promoted with an animated trailer, which received 569,000 views worldwide in 169 countries.