Volvo & Van Damme

Leotrim Hamza

Roosevelt University

BADM 104 Social Media and Business

11/24/14

B2B: AND VAN DAMME

Situation

Summary

• Volvo collaborated with action movie star, Jean Claude Van Damme to advertise their new dynamic steering technology. Volvo came up with a very creative way to show that their new steering system makes their customers driving experience much more comfortable and safe.

ACTION •

Action Summary • Volvo made a

commercial with Van Damme preforming a dangerous split between two trucks that were moving backwards. The trucks were being driven by two of Volvo’s most skilled drivers. Van Damme was hooked to safety lines that weren’t visible in the video, but his feet were not secured to the side mirrors of the trucks.

Result• When the commercial was put up on YouTube

it went viral very quickly. The first week it had about 7 million views. Now it’s well over 76 million views.

• This advertisement was very successful for Volvo

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7FIvfx5J10

Result 2

Volvo recently uploaded another video to advertise their new gearbox I-Shift dual clutch which is based on sports car technology. They had one of their trucks race a Koenigsegg One:1. The Koenigsegg is the worlds first supercar. Volvo bet that their truck could complete one lap faster around a racetrack before the Koenigsegg could complete two. The Koenigsegg completed two laps before the Volvo truck could complete one, but only by a couple of seconds. This video had over a million views in just a week.

Learning• You can have a

successful campaign as long as you include someone or something that covers a broad demographic

• Social Media (YouTube) can be more effective than traditional media

• Creativity is key

WORK CITED

• http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/11/15/how-volvo-created-the-jean-claude-van-damme-video/

• http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/01/17/van-damme-volvo-trucks/4580861/