The Challenge

Since the very beginning, Volvo has built the foundations of its business around safety. The two are synonymous.

But as other premium car manufacturers adopted the same safety features that once gave Volvo an advantage, Volvo was in danger of losing its distinctive edge.

So, Volvo came to Grey in search of a global brand platform that could give its heritage in safety a new role in the world.

Our Strategy

The truth is that Volvo’s dedication to safety has always started with people, not cars.

Initially, their focus was just on protecting the individuals driving their cars.

But we saw an opportunity to tap into the powerful motivation behind Volvo’s commitment to safety and elevate it from a product feature to a lens through which to view the world.

What if Volvo didn’t just help protect those inside the car, but actually helped protect everyone outside the car?

This fitted perfectly with the evolution of technology that protects pedestrians and more recently sustainability initiatives that are actually helping to protect the planet through actions they take as a business.

The Work

We backed Volvo’s promise to the world through brand campaigns that reframed what car safety means.

For example, our Plug-In Hybrid campaign. “The car you trust to protect them, now protects their future.”

In 2021 we launched the biggest sustainability campaign yet, ‘The Ultimate Safety Test’ where we re-framed climate change as a safety issue. The Ultimate Safety Test is not any of the crash tests that Volvo are famous for, but climate change, which no amount of airbags or sensors can protect us from.

We developed a complete campaign eco-system to engage with the brand’s point of view on climate change at the top, backing that up with targeted messages in social and digital to explain how Volvo is answering the sustainability challenge – and finally pulling through to promote Volvo’s range of pure electric cars, sold online.

But we do a lot more than just advertising for Volvo. We have developed a composite harbour wall in Australia which shelters marine life, a renewable energy in Benelux, a film series in conjunction with Sky Atlantic in the UK – and perhaps most famously, a new product called Life Paint: a spray that’s invisible by day but unmissable at night to protect cyclists on the road.

Results.

Volvo achieved their best results in 12 years with double digit sales growth in 2019.

Volvo has closed significant perception gaps against key premium competitors, driving up consideration and purchase intent – allowing Volvo to raise pricing up to the luxury German brands.

Volvo is now the largest premium hybrid brand across Europe, showing success in our planetary safety vision.

And, the work has been recognised with numerous creative and effectiveness awards, including winning Double Cannes Grand Prix, IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix, D&AD and even the official selection at Tribeca Film Festival.