A Million More
Volvo Car Corporation
Issue 57 | December 2020
Agency
Forsman & Bodenfors
Creative Team
Art Directors Sophia Lindholm, Karl Risenfors, Leo Dal Copywriters Hampus Elfström, Nicholas Du¨fke
Production Team
Production Company New Land Music Composer & Artist Jacob Mu¨hlrad
Other Credits
Creative Strategy Auste Skrupskyte Client Director Magnus Wretblad Account Executive Ewa Edlund, Katarina Klofsten Agency Producer Anna Junker Lundin PR Strategist Bjarne Darwall Planner Daniel Sjöstrand Digital Strategist Peter Gaudiano Client Campaign Manager Louise Ahlström Global CMO Andreas Malm Global Brand Mike Johnstone Global Brand Strategy Agustín Soriano
Date
October 2020
Background
When Volvo Cars invented the three-point safety belt in 1959, its introduction sparked debate among media and the public.
“The seatbelt is a violation of human rights”.
“It's better to be thrown out than to be trapped inside”. These were only a few of the comments made about the new idea.
But to date it’s been credited with saving more than a million lives worldwide.
Idea
In the campaign, “A terrible idea”, real car crash survivors reacted to quotes once said about the invention that saved their lives.
The point was to introduce Volvo’s latest safety-driven ideas, which many people will almost certainly resist: the 180kph speed cap introduced to all Volvo cars in 2020 and the introduction of in-car cameras to detect and prevent intoxicated and drunken driving.
The seatbelt saved a million lives. Volvo are hoping to save a million more.
Our Thoughts
Two reasons why we selected this video for inclusion. One, it’s a clever strategy.
How do you introduce what are essentially curtailments of personal liberties without sounding nannyish or hectoring? By confronting the criticisms head on, if I can use the phrase. The second thing, is here we are in mid-autumn 2020 and this campaign makes no mention of the new normal or the old normal in making the assumption that whatever the future looks like, people will still drive cars and will still drive them badly.