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With the client’s previous film in the series, Fast and Furious 7, taking the incredible position of number six on the list of highest-grossing films of all time, we had the biggest challenge ever of trying to beat this for the next one: Fast and Furious 8.

We knew that we had to step up our game for the lead up to the release of the eighth film in the blockbuster series if it was going to come anywhere close to the previous and deliver an experience like no other! The chance to become one of the ‘family’, a chance to appear within the movie, buy merchandise and take part in one of ‘the’ most talked about events of the year. “All amazing!” I hear you cry, but for JCDecaux that simply wasn’t enough, like Toretto himself we were going on the road delivering the ultimate Fast and Furious campaign nationally.

On 31st March 2017, JCDecaux, MediaCom and Universal Pictures deployed the first phase of the five-location campaign roadshow in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries shopping centre, two weeks prior to the movie’s UK release date, this was to coincide with the school holiday in order to maximise effectiveness.

We wanted to make the campaign as immersive as possible in order to generate plenty of excitement around the latest move. So how did we do it? Painstakingly creating a life-sized replica of Dominic Toretto’s iconic Dodge Ice Charger suspended upside down in mid-air. The gravity- defying model required approval from Dodge itself and the wheels on the car featured genuine dodge disks! Retail units were also created to look like Tej Parker’s famous garage, conveniently where consumers could buy official film merchandise.

The attention to detail in making this campaign as stimulating as possible was on another scale to what JCDecaux UK has ever done before. In addition to providing the perfect selfie opportunity, JCDecaux SmartCONTENT was also used to deploy a ‘Tweet and Instagram to screen’ function so that any selfies taken by the public would be displayed across JCDecaux’s Mall and Rail D6, Transvision and Motion@Waterloo screens – making the public ‘famous’ and drumming up even further excitement.

On top of this, a green screen was provided in malls where consumers were filmed and then placed inside a scene from the film which they could share on social media.

The campaign left Glasgow on 2nd April and made its way to London’s Victoria Station from the 5th-7th April, perfectly coinciding with the school Easter holidays.

The tour then went on to London’s Waterloo Station from 10th-12th April in time for the film’s UK release date on 12th April. From 14th-17th April the campaign was moved to St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff from 14th-17th April and Trinity Leeds from 19th-25th April – a true roadshow around the UK!

The campaign undoubtedly contained as much action-packed adrenaline as the film itself. Creating anticipation and excitement, the Fast and Furious tour provided not just fans, but everyone with an unforgettable experience.

With social statistics breaking, the campaign helped to deliver the largest global open weekend box office ever!