Campaign Background & Summary

January is marked as one of the most important months when it comes to car sales. In Belgium, over 25% of all car sales are realized in January. After 2020 being a “lost” year due to the Covid crisis, car manufacturers will do anything to regain market share, resulting in a huge communication offensive from all competitors. To stand out from the clutter, Volvo needed an approach that emphasizes Volvo’s historical lead in safety using the claim “make every driver a safe driver” however, safety is becoming more and more a commodity; claimed by different car brands that introduce similar safety innovations.

To increase brand consideration and tough leadership in this domain, Volvo needed to keep refreshing their safety association. So, it was the ultimate mission to create an activation that would increase brand consideration and highlight Volvo’s safety claim “make every driver a safe driver”. Furthermore, was it important that the activation supported the tactical sale campaign by letting consumers experience the added value of Volvo’s safety features in everyday situations. So, safety became something tangible and relevant in consumers' daily lives with the Volvo Blindspot, an interactive DOOH billboard that warns drivers for arriving cyclists in real-time on the screen.

Description

Volvo has a history in safety and a strong reputation to defend. They are pioneers in making cars safe and their view on safety goes beyond the car itself it includes all road users.

More and more Belgians are using their bike for both recreational and commuting purposes, especially in cities. In the Belgian capital Brussels, this led to an increase of +64% cyclists in 2020. However, infrastructure is lagging. Government investments are unable to follow the sharp increase of cyclists, resulting in unfit and dangerous situations for all road users. This led to a rise of fatal accidents involving cyclists with 25%. In most cases, the blind spot is one of the main causes of serious or fatal bicycle accidents.

As far back as 2004, Volvo already tried to deal with this problem by creating the first blind spot detector. Today, with the increasing number of cyclists on city roads, it was highly needed to highlight the importance of its BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) once more. Because consumers get warnings all the time, but fewer come up with an actual solution where consumers can experience the value of a blind-spot warning system.

Objectives

The objectives for this campaign were on the one hand to make people consider buying a Volvo with the Volvo XC40 in the spotlights at that moment. And on the other hand, to strengthen Volvo’s brand position to stay top of mind when it comes to safety. 

Strategy

Volvo has a history in safety, they are pioneers in making cars safe. They were the first brand to share their knowledge concerning safety with other car brands and they were also the first car brand to broaden its view on safety by including all road users. With January being one of the most important months in the automotive industry and other car brands starting to claim safety, Volvo needed a strategic approach that would make them stand out again from the rest.

Following research cycling was on the rise in Belgium for recreational and commuting purposes especially in cities. But the infrastructure of the cities couldn’t keep up with this rising demand and even resulting in an increase of 25% more fatal accidents involving cyclists.

But back in 2004 Volvo already tried to offer a solution to this problem by creating the first blind-spot detector. So, the insight lied in previous work and in Volvo’s claim “making every driver a safe driver”. Volvo needed to embody this claim in such a way that would emphasize once again their innovative way of thinking about safety. But how can you make every driver a safe driver without putting them all in a Volvo?

That’s where the BLIS (Blind Spot Information) system comes in, with increasing accidents including a cyclist, pointing out the benefits of this system in a creative way could be the perfect answer to bring their Blindspot system under the attention again of consumers who are planning on buying a new car.

Creative Strategy

Following Volvo’s brand claim to make every driver a safe driver but not physically being able to put everyone in a Volvo. Volvo came up with the perfect solution, Volvo can, however, take its blind spot technology (BLIS) out of the car. And that’s what they did, Volvo took its BLIS system out of the car and put it into a digital billboard. In one of the busiest streets of Brussels, known for its many accidents involving cyclists, a radar sensor was installed on top of a billboard signaling in real-time and 3D to nearby cars when cyclists were approaching.

BLIS is a safety system that warns drivers of approaching vehicles behind and on the left and right side of the driver using integrated radar sensors. We’ve installed sensors on top of the DOOH to detect all movement in the street and filter cyclists from a distance of 45 meters. This sensor is connected to a compact PC that controls the screen on the DOOH.

Through the radar, we were able to activate an animation on the DOOH. As soon as a cyclist approached, a 3D animation in real-time appeared accompanied by a warning sign for the drivers. Both the distance to the DOOH and the speed of the cyclist are displayed synchronously in this animation. An extra warning is displayed when the cyclist is about to cross the side street, urging the driver to stop before turning right.

The billboard made all drivers aware of the presence of cyclists in their blind spot, even if they didn’t drive a Volvo. On top of that it also noticeably increased the safety of Brussels cyclists.  Volvo used the Clearchannel Adshell format which is exactly the same size as a 6 sheet poster or 2m².

Results

During the 2 weeks, our campaign was live, the blind spot billboard was experienced by more than 222.000 drivers. On top of that, the awareness video on social was watched over 2.2 million times.

The campaign also caught the attention of both national and international press, receiving coverage in all national newspapers and being internationally featured by LLB, Adforum, Contagious magazine, and Directory, resulting in a PR value that surpassed our total campaign budget multiple times.

But most importantly, the campaign didn’t miss the mark when it came to sales. In January, the number of offer requests had more than doubled compared to last year (+117%).  And in a declining market (-13%), Volvo managed to increase sales by a staggering 7%. Leading to a severe increase in market share with the Volvo XC40 being the most popular car model in Belgium until today.