Volvo goes naughty

Safety, Scandinavian design and environmental consideration are all part and parcel of the Volvo brand. And now, with the all-new Volvo S60, a new dimension is being revealed - The Naughty Volvo.

Volvo Cars' S60 marketing campaign, which is mostly placed online, reveals its more playful side, where properties such as extreme driving pleasure and daring design are in the spotlight.
"The all-new Volvo S60 is a particularly dynamic car with an exciting design and innovative safety features. We are showing what it can actually do and just how much fun it is to drive," says Michael Persson, director of Global Marketing Communications.
A "Naughty Volvo" website (www.naughty.volvocars.co.za) has been developed as part of the campaign. It will form the platform for various Volvo S60 marketing activities. And it even has a "naughtymeter" – a fun device that let's you choose a level of naughtiness for the S60.

For example twelve short films have been produced at the Volvo test-track and visitors to the Volvo Cars Naughty website can put the S60 through four different 'tests', and by using the naughtymeter they decide just how naughty they want the S60 to be.
The first film shows a slalom test and at level two a red S60 slips and slides its way along a slalom course marked out with traffic cones  - then the question "Want it naughty?" appears on the screen. With each level chosen, both the speed and the thrills rise to new heights. And the same principle is applied to the other three test films: Elk/Moose test, Pedestrian Detection test and Driving Pleasure test.

No cheating
"The films haven't been faked or enhanced in any way. The S60 not only represents the fun side of Volvo, it really lives up to its sporty design," says Sven de Smet, Campaign Development Manager.
The Volvo team, together with a stunt driver, planned all the various courses and events. And after test-driving the Volvo S60 on the track, the stunt driver decided to add even more spice to his stunts.

"Of course we don't encourage anyone else to drive in this way. Instead, what we wanted was to show that the car can handle all this and more thanks to its superb dynamic properties and innovative technical solutions," explains Sven de Smet.

There is also a fourth level on the naughtymeter, which is linked to the question "Not naughty enough? You tell us." Visitors to the website are asked to send in suggestions for what challenges that last level should contain.

"We certainly aren't going to blow up cars or allow any risk of personal injury, but in all other respects there are no holds barred," says Michael Persson.
Five finalists' ideas will be chosen from the above suggestions and will be presented on the naughty hub. The public then get to vote for the winner, who will be named at the end of April. The winning idea will then be filmed in Los Angeles in early May.

The Naughty campaign is global and gets under way with the launch of the all-new Volvo S60 at the Geneva Motor show this week. That is when it will be possible to see how well the campaign succeeds in grabbing the attention of premium car buyers and for them to experience the fun side of Volvo; the naughty one.

The campaign will of course also cover the more traditional media as we get closer to the local launch in South Africa towards the end of 2010, early 2011. In the meanwhile we are out to have some fun.