The Epic Split
Two mirrors, two trucks in reverse, and a man at sunrise.
The insight
Volvo Trucks had five new models to launch, a price increase to justify, and a media budget that would embarrass a mid-size car brand. Worse, the thing they had to sell was precision. Steering stability is the least sexy claim in heavy freight. Say "our dynamic steering holds a perfectly straight line" and a fleet manager nods and forgets it before lunch.
Two things unlocked it. First, nobody buys a truck alone: drivers, mechanics, dispatchers and owners all lean on the decision, and not one of them is reading your brochure. Second, and bigger, precision is boring as a claim and thrilling as a demonstration. Nobody watches a spec sheet. Everybody watches a stunt.
The idea
Prove the steering by inventing a test that is only survivable if the engineering is real. Put Jean-Claude Van Damme with one foot on the wing mirror of each of two Volvo FM trucks. Drive both trucks in reverse, in perfect parallel, while they slowly separate and he lowers into the splits. Play Enya over it. Do not explain the feature. Let the man's hamstrings make the argument.
How it works
It was the sixth film in the Live Test Series, a run of one-take stunts where each film physically tested one truck feature. A hamster steering a truck up a quarry. The company president standing on top of a truck dangling over a harbour. A truck dragged through a trench. YouTube first, not TV. No thirty-second cutdown, no voiceover selling benefits.
The construction is where the discipline hides. Real trucks, real reverse drive, one take, no stunt double, and the only post work was the grade and painting out the safety wire. Reverse driving is exactly where steering wander shows up worst, so the stunt is quite literally the product demo. If Volvo Dynamic Steering drifted by a few centimetres, the shot would not exist.
The Stupid/Smart of it
Stupid: hire a 53-year-old action star to do the splits between two moving trucks, at sunrise, scored to Enya, in order to sell heavy freight equipment to procurement departments. Read that back in a boardroom and watch the room go quiet.
Smart: every absurd second of it is a product demonstration. The entertainment is not wrapped around the proof, it is the proof, which is why it survived 100 million views without ever feeling like an ad. Going YouTube-first also reached the whole chain of people who sway a truck purchase, at a fraction of what broadcast would have cost.
Why we love it
Most product films describe a feature. This one dares the feature to fail on camera. That is the steal: stop making ads about the thing your product does well, and invent a test only your product could survive. The stakes do the selling, and the stunt stops being a stunt the moment it becomes evidence.
The numbers
Volvo also reported that half of viewers were more interested in buying a Volvo truck afterwards, and two thirds of those went on to visit the site or contact a dealer.
Awards
Two Grand Prix at Cannes 2014, then a third in 2015
Who made it
Client: Volvo Trucks
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg
Art Directors: Anders Eklind, Sophia Lindholm
Copywriters: Björn Engström, Martin Ringqvist
Agency Producer: Alexander Blidner
Director: Andreas Nilsson
Talent: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Truck driver: Mikael Rosell
Music: "Only Time" by Enya
Grade: The Mill
Worth noting: Forsman & Bodenfors famously runs with no creative directors and no hierarchy. Flat teams, collective sign-off. A campaign this exposed got made without anyone senior available to soften it.
Sources: Wikipedia · Forsman & Bodenfors (results) · Campaign (credits) · Ad Age (Creative Effectiveness GP) · fxguide (how it was shot)
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