Volvo Ocean Race makes first SEA stop

Malaysia – Tapping into the emotions of the human kind, Volvo will brings its auspicious Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) to Southeast Asia for the first time in its 34-year history.

Pulau Sentosa, Singapore is the third port-of-call for the eight yachts competing in the 10th edition of the race.

Volvo Car Asia Pacific, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, will be hosting some Malaysians to visit and celebrate the first Southeast Asian stopover of the race.

The VOR is held once in every three years and is dependent on the wind and skill of the four shipmates.

As is the tradition for Volvo, special edition cars have been rolled out to mark the VOR but it will be in selected markets, including Singapore. Unfortunately, it will not be available in Malaysia.

The campaign is to raise awareness and to develop and emotional connection to the brand values which is also associated with excitement, adventure.

Akhtar Sulaiman, VOR's project manager, said some 3.5 billion people are expected at the stopovers and Race Villages.

He added that the race will broadcast on ESPN Sports Centre and Star Sports and last year’s media value for the event was valued at around US$86 billion.

The VOR is held once in every three years and is dependent on the wind and skill of the four shipmates.

“At the race stopovers, we also set up our Brand and Product Exhibition Pavilion which is fitted into 27 40ft containers to ship around and 10 days to set up, showcasing our products,” he said in a presentation recently.

To engage the audience, Volvo also launched a 2D and 3D view of the race, and two games – Rush Adventure and volvoleagueinvirtualregatta.com where the winner stands to drive home Volvo’s coupe C30.

On the part of Malaysia, Volvo’s interactive agency Immerse Communications produced an augmented reality concept in just 10 days.

This allows visitors to www.vcc.com.my/oceanrace to print out an image of a yacht which is displayed as a 3D image once it is positioned in front of a web-camera.