How to Win the Super Bowl Without Spending $5 Million on a 30-Second Spot

Why some brands have opted to ‘ambush’ the game

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Like other advertisers, Volvo last year said no thanks to plunking down more than $4 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot. But it didn't sit on the sidelines. Rather, the automaker crashed the game via Twitter, unleashing "The Greatest Interception Ever," a campaign that encouraged fans to tweet the hashtag #VolvoContest and enter a friend to win a Volvo XC60 during the airing of rival automakers' spots. Created by Grey New York, the effort went viral, generating 55,000 tweets using the hashtag and scoring 114,000 mentions.

Over the course of the game, Volvo trended globally on social media, while the promotion yielded a 70.7

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