A Volvo pushes itself into the background
Begeisternde Autowerbung? Gerne. Forsman & Bodenfors aus Schweden zeigt, wie's geht.
Contemporary car advertising not infrequently shines with despondent, uninnovative concepts: fancy pictures, sober facts, trade-in premiums, leasing rates. The brands lose their profile and become interchangeable. Audis used to ski up ski jumps - but what actually sets the Ingoldstadt-based company apart today from the competition from Germany, Europe, Asia and the power socket?
Volvo, on the other hand, has remained relatively true to itself. The Swedes, who are now actually Chinese, still rely on their USP, which in some cases has clearly set them apart from the competition in past decades: safety.
A nice new example of this is the campaign by the agency Forsman & Bodenfors. "The Runner," "The Cyclist," "The Pedestrian" - the supposed car advertising blah-blah turns out in the course of the spots to be a description of those road users whom Volvo protects thanks to assistance systems. And thus turns the ostensible protagonist into a supporting actor. As a side effect, the viewer realizes that Volvo SUVs are nice to look at. They don't really belong in the city. At least they seem to knock down as few joggers, pedestrians and cyclists as possible.
