Do you remember the last Volvo commercial you saw? Or any Volvo commercial?
If the answer is “no,” you clearly haven’t seen the videos offered up by Volvo Trucks, which somehow manage to make 18-wheelers seem as alluring as a two-seat droptop. By staging stunts that compel viewers to seek out a heavy truck license, the company’s online videos have given the truck maker a strong media presence and plenty of word of mouth.
It’s too bad that Volvo Cars (long since snatched from under the Volvo Group corporate umbrella) can’t do the same thing.
The latest Volvo Trucks video features a paragliding stuntman towed by one of the company’s newest big rigs. To show off the performance of the vehicle’s I-Shift dual clutch transmission — which nearly eliminates torque loss under harsh driving conditions — the truck and “passenger” sail through the mountains of Croatia, dodging vehicles, cyclists and, at one point, a bridge.
The paraglider barks commands at the driver through a mic, pushing her to maintain certain speeds on the winding roadway so as to avoid an untidy demise.
Other entries in the company’s “Live Test” series show Volvo trucks punching through concrete buildings, high-centering themselves on a guardrail (check out that skid plate performance, everyone), fording deep water, suspending tight rope-walking ballerinas, and ferrying action star Jean-Claude Van Damme (on two trucks at the same time).
Contrast this with Volvo Cars, which finds itself at the beginning of a long-awaited American sales turnaround. No one can deny the new S90/V90 are attractive vehicles, but the ads seem to showcase the roads less traveled more than the vehicle on them. For some, that works. Sweden is stark and majestic, and sure, who doesn’t long for an adventure into the beautiful backcountry? There’s a romantic feeling to all of that.
Still, it’s hard not to think of the automaker’s brilliant 1960s commercials that focused solely on the car and its capabilities. That campaign, which featured one 121 Amazon being driven on a torturous rally-style commute (“drive it like you hate it”), helped introduce the model to a skeptical America.
Well, Volvo needs America to learn to love it all over again, so maybe it’s time to take a page from the no-longer-affiliated Volvo Trucks. That, or return to the marketing brilliance of the ’60s. Somehow.
[Image capture: Volvo Trucks/YouTube]
I have such a soft spot for the Amazon. My dad had two Amazon wagons. I have fantasies about building a resto-mod 121 coupe with a modern drivetrain.
Hmmn, that current ad for the Volvo S90, the poetic one, hits me real good. Reasonably understated, classy, I have no problem remembering it a couple of days after seeing it.
Where is Jean-Claude Van Damme when they need him? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10
bullnuke – Chuck Norris outdoes em all.
https://www. youtube. com/watch ? v= 8kZuTdVeZsg
The last one I saw (and not the whole commercial) is the one with the beaded intellectual guy, sitting in the car by himself.
“A Place To Collect Your Thoughts”
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AGyi/2016-volvo-xc90-a-place-to-collect-your-thoughts
Waaaay back when, there was a commercial featuring Volvo’s fastback sedan that was hosted by newscaster John Cameron Swayze, showing a terrified passenger being taken through what looked like a rallycross course by a hot-shoe driver. The whole thing was actually about how the passenger’s Timex watch survived the ordeal and “kept on ticking”. Classic.
I haven’t really noticed Volvo commercials since that one in the movie, “Crazy People.” (And it wasn’t even real.)
@Steph Willems,
It would be equivalent of Ford borrowing Jaguar PR ( they used to own the leaping cat brand) to do Lincoln Commercials. Ain’t going to happen
“sail through the mountains of Croatia”
Dear God! That’s tops on *my* bucket list!
What are the odds?!
No, no, you want the magic carpet for mountain touring.
In not too long, when CAFE has incrementally crept up to make all trucks smaller than class 8 too expensive, Volvo may just have a hit on it’s hands in Texas if they stick a pickup bed on one of these..
@stuki – International tried that. I’ve seen a few CXT’s and MXT’s. I’d love to own either one. There is a guy in my town with a restored B- Model Mack on a short wheel base. That would be my ultimate dream truck.
I remember the one where they drive off a parking ramp so show how safe they are. That’s about the only Volvo commercial I remember.