IRVINE, CA, June 22, 2007-In a twist worthy of any great pirate story, Volvo upped anchor today -- at least temporarily -- on the last leg of its global online treasure hunt: the retrieval from the sea floor of a treasure chest filled with $50,000 in gold and the key to a new Volvo.
The hoisting of the chest was suspended until the controversy surrounding the discovery of a real life treasure trove, by Volvo's Hunt partner Odyssey Marine Exploration, dies down.
Volvo selected Odyssey, the world leader in deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, to sink a treasure chest with one goal: to create an exciting treasure hunt to coincide with the release of Disney's ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.' Under a shroud of secrecy, the Odyssey crew scouted locations in the Western Mediterranean, until they found the perfect spot off the coast of Gibraltar.
The plan was to take the winner of The Hunt, which turned out to be 23-year-old Alena Zvereva from Ekaterinburg, Russia, out to retrieve the treasure from its secret location. All was going swimmingly until the operation hit an unforeseen snag: the Odyssey explorers found real treasure and triggered a media tsunami.
As thousands of would-be treasure hunters from around the globe battled it out to find Volvo's prize booty, the Odyssey team uncovered a sunken Spanish galleon laden with an estimated $500 million in gold and silver coins. They called their find in the Atlantic Ocean the ‘Black Swan.'
As soon as the discovery was made public, having been spotted depositing Volvo's treasure in an entirely different area, questions were raised about the real provenance of the ‘Black Swan.' Was it a Spanish shipwreck? Had Odyssey been working on shipwrecks in Spanish waters? Unable to reveal the exact location of the ‘Black Swan,' in the Atlantic Ocean because of their concerns about security, and because of a non-disclosure agreement with Volvo to protect the location of its treasure chest, the Odyssey team found itself in the eye of a media and legal storm that has yet to die down.
"When we discovered the ‘Black Swan,' international interest in the find was amazing," said Greg Stemm, real-life shipwreck explorer and co-founder of Odyssey. "Even though we have been very clear that it's in the Atlantic Ocean, outside any country's territorial waters, when Spanish authorities saw that we'd been out near Gibraltar in March, some unfortunately jumped to the wrong conclusion. “
Reports have been widely circulated that a court in the Spanish coastal town of La Linea has issued an order for the Spanish Guardia Civil to detain any Odyssey vessel should it leave the port of Gibraltar, putting Volvo's retrieval plans on hold.
"We thought sinking a real treasure chest, filled with $50,000 in gold doubloons and a key to a new Volvo, and creating a global treasure hunt for 22 markets was challenging," said Linda Gangeri, national advertising manager, Volvo Cars of North America. "But that was, quite literally, a drop in the ocean compared to the storm our attempted retrieval process has stirred up."
Whatever happens, the winner Alena Zvereva will receive $50,000 and a new Volvo XC70. Volvo, however, is not giving up on its retrieval plans and is committed to exploring every avenue possible to reclaim the chest from its watery depths.
"We wanted an adventure, and we certainly got one," said Gangeri. "Real-life shipwreck exploration is uncharted waters for us, and Odyssey did warn us that you never know what will happen out on the high seas.”
About the Hunt
The wildly popular Hunt, a month-long multi-media campaign developed as part of Volvo's promotion of the theatrical release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, attracted more than 32,000 online contestants from 22 markets around the world. Participants solved a series of puzzles that led to a semi-final puzzle, Puzzle 21: World's End, posted May 31. The first contestant from each country to submit the correct answer then went on to compete in one final online puzzle to decide the winner. All participating markets were represented in the final with the exception of Italy, who didn't have a participant submit a correct semi-final answer within the time limit.
About Odyssey Marine Exploration and "ZEUS."
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. is engaged in the exploration of deep-water shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive deep-ocean search and recovery operations around the world. The company was founded by industry pioneers John Morris and Greg Stemm. The ZEUS remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is the centerpiece of an advanced robotic archeology system. It is rated to operate at depths to 8,200 feet and is driven by eight powerful hydraulic thrusters. The system's cameras feed high-definition video signals through advanced fiberoptic telemetry to the surface.
For more information about the Hunt: Thehunt07.spaces.live.com
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