Volvo HR90, a car so intelligent it can recruit its own technicians
Volvo Car Belux
Issue 46 | March 2018
Agency
FamousGrey, Groot- Bijgaarden
Creative Team
Creative Executive Creative Director Peter Ampe Creative Team Tom Berth, Geert de Rocker Experience Director Maarten Breda Copywriters Joanna Ryckaert, Charles- Eli Chauvaux Design Jonathan Lichtfeld Development Arno van Biesen, Jérémy Dillenbourg, Gwen Vanhee, Wim Vanhenden
Production Team
Production Digital Production Companies nøcomputer – Craftworkz Digital Producer Bart De Bock Operations Director Bart Segers Production Director Emily Rammant, Production FamousGrey Productions
Other Credits
Other Project Leader Vincent Vandam Brand Leader Kris Vanderhulst Business Director Carola Michiels PR Manager Sophie Engels – Famous Relations Clients Marketing Director Balder D’hondt Event Manager Thomas Makay
Date
January 2018
Background
Volvo's initial brief was for a recruitment campaign to attract service technicians to work on the new S90 saloon, a car designed to be a greater threat to German dominance of the executive market than any of its predecessors.
Idea
The idea was to turn the Volvo S90 into the HR90, using all the car's advanced technology to help interview new candidates to be the first-generation of personal service technicians. They would offer drivers a level of personalised service, which would demand both the technical knowhow of a mechanic and the social and communication skills of a salesperson.
Tapping into the car's AI, speech technology, pedestrian recognition and car connect systems, among all its other technological elements, the car was able do its own job interviews, testing applicants on their social and technical skills.
The pedestrian camera identified candidates while an AI bot turned text-to-speech software to ask questions and speech-to-text software to retrieve answers from candidates. IBM Watson enabled the car to perform a personality analysis.
Unveiled at the Brussels Motor Show in Hall 6, the HR90 interviewed candidates selected from their online applications at www.volvohr90.be.
It then moved on to tour job expos, schools and Volvo dealerships in search of new recruits.
Results
130 applicants were interviewed at the car show.
Press interest allowed the story to reach 57% of all Belgians.
There were 250% more candidates for the vacancies than from normal recruitment campaigns.
Our Thoughts
Reading between the lines, this is one of those stories about how the agency saw a much bigger opportunity in the brief than the client saw.
Instead of doing a couple of small ads in Technicians Monthly, they've created a wonderful piece of brand communication.
As well as recruiting the engineers they need, they've managed to wrap an amazing aura of technological superiority around the car.
More than that, because Volvos are still built in Belgium, it's also a story about Belgian ingenuity. Everyone's a winner with this campaign.