I’m calling it. This commercial for Volvo Trucks that came out today is the best commercial of 2013. What makes it – or other commercial shoots - so successful? Beautiful, simple ideas, a great concept, seamless execution, a bit of good old nostalgia and a pinch of the unexpected all mix beautifully to give us 70 seconds of pure brilliance. With four eight twelve twenty four thirty million views and counting, let's take a look and see why this ad has been so successful.
For those of us of a certain generation, we will remember the king of kickboxing, Jean Claude Van Damme, from his many action films like “Bloodsport” and “Kickboxer”, and his insane ability to do the split kicks. It’s what he became known for. Volvo played to this brilliantly today with their demonstration of their truck's technical excellence in their new ad, by combining man and machine, in a statement piece that simply says “engineering excellence”.
The opening is a shocker for those of us who still remember Jean Claude from back in his hey day. He looks so old! But by the time the end of the commercial comes up, we’re touched by how he “still has the old magic”. It’s shot so simply and beautifully, all on a one shot take that starts in on a close up, smoothly tracks out to a wide and then tracks off to the side so we are left with a super strong, beautiful composition as the commercial ends.
Like the best commercials, we are left with a sense of awe, wonder, and amazement at what we've just seen - it is memorable. In an age and time where our attention spans are measured in fractions of seconds, this commercial just does everything right. As soon as I watched it, I went straight back and watched it again. It was that good. Today, a successful commercial is one that goes viral, that gets us talking, and makes us want to watch it again. The "stickiness" of commercials - how long we remember and talk about them for - is what makes them successful. Will this sell more Volvo trucks? Time will tell, but as far as a successful, sticky commercial goes, this one is pure gold.
They also filmed a little funny behind the scenes piece (albeit with little to no technical BTS information, it does help set the scene for the actual commercial very nicely).
It just goes to show – success isn’t something impossible or unfathomable or insanely out of reach, but it is about having the right ingredients, mixed properly together and carefully executed. It's about focusing on keeping things simple, not getting unnecessarily twisted up in all sorts of complexity for the sake of it. A simple concept, something that is well thought out, planned properly, shot simply and beautifully, and then has a drop of nostalgia and a little surprise added to the mix provides the basis for an amazing, heart stopping piece of visual media.
Best? Not in my book.
"Like the best commercials, we are left with a sense of awe, wonder, and amazement at what we’ve just seen" Really? Awe is what makes a good commercial?
Experience says that saying something that matters and saying it in a captivating way so that we hear it is far, far more important. I think this ad fails to do that. Yes. There is a message. But it takes far, far too long to get to it and the channel has been changed long before it comes up.
I stayed tune. But I'm an advertising professional who also teaches so I need to know what's going on out there. Otherwise, at :05 seconds into it I'd be off looking for something else to watch.
There is no message !!! I am not a advertising professional or whatever but the commercial is very simply and easy to read for professionals. What is going on there is as I wrote before
"Anyway fantastic commercial with good association of good music, performance and van dame who is a source of good feelings (everybody remember those films :) ) - VOLVO + Van Dame = good feelings. Very smart because people will experience this during peak state of feeling (shocking split) this is fantastic way of programming commercial which works very fast on people."
with your 3rd wife by your side.
a haha, 8 mln views in a day! and "best" is not in your book? that book was probably printed in 70s or something, when people "actually" looked at tv screen.
Though i think you are right "in theory".
Teaches? Teaches what specifically?
Pretty funny thread of comments. The headline claims "best commercial of 2013". So I say that's bunk based on a career evaluating commercials and impact. Nobody probably stopped to consider that this post is likely or possibly paid seeding of the video which is the standard for trying to drive views.
As a commercial it's not very good. As a video it's really well done and fascinating. There is a big difference.
What about millions of views? That's nice. But cat videos get that, too. So lots of views just confirm that a lot of people find the video interesting. But that isn't connected with whether it's even a moderately good commercial.
Remind me to never take one of your 'courses' if they are related to marketing.
As for driving views, a post on fstoppers is hardly contributing to that, nor necessary. The video went viral yesterday. You're 24 hours overdue...and in the world of social media, that might as well be a decade.
Ah, yes. The mythology of the instant. Appreciate yr good thoughts about my classes. :-)
Rather than trolling this website, you should focus your energy on pulling your website out of 1993 with a nice, clean redesign. Just saying.
Technically, the trollers are the responders to an intelligently expressed opinion who choose to flame to be exaggerated and controversial. I see your note that it's not always about selling. Absolutely true. My opinion is that this is clearly not the best ad of 2013 and not even close by a long shot because it's ability to leave behind a valuable residual in the mind is exceptionally limited. There must be a residual that can deliver future value for there to be tremendous commercial value. This won't do it in my opinion.
I think this ad is very successful, it conveys notions of safety, confidence and ingenuity, all while being extremely captivating. You're completely right; millions of views on Youtube isn't saying much these days but even if it was possibly faked through the use of CGI as some readers have suggested, the reality is that Volvo has created something very, very good because it leaves audiences wondering, sharing and discussing it at length. Even on a super small scale, just look at how many of us Fstoppers readers took the time to comment here, the mere fact that you, yourself (a self proclaimed expert in your field) stopped to open up a discussion about the ad, makes it successful because the ad got through to you enough that you wanted to talk about it.
Seriously? This commercial sucks. The stunt is obviously fake. CG. And, by the way, 1998 called, wants its collection of sappy Enya singles back. And, its action movie star!
Go back to your mother's basement.
just fucked yours, why not?
...said the guy who has a collection of Enya CD's in his own mother's basement. Sorry, did I offend the Enya fans out there? or the Volvo fans? or the Jean Claude Van Dam fans? in other words....homosexuals.
Van Damme kicks ass!
fake
Nope.
You all do realize that this was shot beginning with the split and ending with the close up, right?
No. It is filmed the way you see it. Look at the drivers. Look at the wind in his shirt.
Nope. It's filmed exactly as you see it. See my main comment at the top.
Steering? Nonono. He PUSHED THEM APART.
Amazing commercial but I doubt that they were driving backwards during recording the video. They did it driving forward and they start with the legs spread. So the original video is really playing in backwards. Anyway fantastic commercial with good association of good music, performance and van dame who is a source of good feelings (everybody remember those films :) ) - VOLVO + Van Dame = good feelings. Very smart because people will experience this during peak state of feeling (shocking split) this is fantastic way of programming commercial which works very fast on people.
No. It was filmed exactly as shown. This is why only one of the trucks is a full semi (on the right side) and the left is a straight truck.This couldn't have been done with 2 semis due to the manner in which they back up (cab pushes the opposite way of the trailer), even at a slight angle such as this. It is why only the straight truck on the left side is the one moving away to cause the split. You'll also see they are both carefully following the lines painted on the road. Had they originally shot this with the trucks moving forward, they would have used 2 semis because they could have. The mere fact that Volvo used one semi and one straight proves that this was filmed exactly as we see it, (NOTE: the demonstration video shows the technician using 2 semis to show JCVD what will happen).
"This is why only one of the trucks is a full semi" - this is no proof. They could use it just to make it real for people like you. They know people patterns of thinking. This could have been done with 2 semis (going forward as I described) but it would be very suspicious and they know it.
They wouldn´t use 2 semis because that would be too suspicious. The people who design that kind of commercials are very smart and they know patterns how people think. They use what they use just because they expect that kind of thinking like yours. I am wondering if those antenas on the roof of the trucks are elastic and if they are why they are bended the way they are by wind.
here is reversed video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEtsq4Nz8iI
People are focusing on the size of the trucks and the speed at which the film was shot and then sped up. I'm just impressed that JCVD can still do the splits at 53 years old.
Makes me wish for a new Jean Claude Van Damme movie. Great to see him on film again.
So let's wait three months and see if they sell more trucks.
Marketing isn't always about selling (in this case) trucks. True marketing genius is about leaving an impression. It's about evoking emotion. It's about causing a reaction. It's about raising awareness. This was successful.
haha, those guys in those trucks, can only imagine them being like wtffffffff!!!!! hahahaha, good ole jcvd does it again
From the markings on the road, the trucks are traveling in reverse. ?????????????????????????
1. not the best commercial of the year. guinnes' wheelchair basketball commercial makes this look silly.
2. youtube's bandwidth blows. absolutely blows. can't get a stupid video to run straight through even at degraded resolution. morons.
When did he stop beating women?
I've worked on video effects software guys...I'm sorry, but Van Damme would not put his ballz at risk of splitting sperm all over the road..you would be amazed at the power of today's video effects can do to deceive you.
must say, I"m way more impressed with the drivers... who are driving backwards?
Anybody else's heart stop? Jean Claude love all over again!
For those who believe the original was shot with the trucks moving forward (with the final simply reversing the footage), no. It was filmed exactly as shown. This is why only one of the trucks is a full semi (on the right side) and the left is a straight truck.This couldn't have been done with 2 semis due to the manner in which they back up (cab pushes the opposite way of the trailer), even at a slight angle such as this. It is why only the straight truck on the left side is the one moving away to cause the split. You'll also see they are both carefully following the lines painted on the road. Had they originally shot this with the trucks moving forward, they would have used 2 semis because they could have. The mere fact that Volvo used one semi and one straight proves that this was filmed exactly as we see it, (even though the demonstration video shows the technician using 2 semis to show JCVD what will happen).
It's beautiful, perfect and is marketing at its finest. Throw some Enya, amazing videography and a sunset into it and you are left with the ahhhhhhhhhhh moment.
Great write up.
That song by Enya rules. No wait, Enya rules. And this commercial kicks major ass.
LOL. You like Enya. ROFL
Yah, I do. Is that a problem for you? She's an extremely talented musician, songwriter and vocalist. I guess it would be naive for me to assume someone with the username, "crazyredneck" would be able to appreciate, let alone recognize talent. Now back to listening to Brad Paisley you go.
Dude. Don't get your panties in a bunch. That was the type of response I was trying to elicit. Perhaps a thicker skin might better suit you? All of your assumptions about someone with the username "crazyredneck" are probably correct. It's not like I'm lying or anything. Have a good night!
Wow. Very, very impressive.
This article is officially "JCVD Approved™" :)
He tweeted us personally, pretty cool....guess Van Damme is an Fstoppers reader apparently!
He is still HOT and if that is real... pretty impressive. WOW.
Damn!!!!! He's still hot!!!
Impressive commercial but Chuck Norris of Jean-Claude any day
Good
damn...