Safety at all costs - Volvo
Data privacy is one of the biggest concerns in the world today. With 2.5 quintillions (1 followed by 18 zeros) bytes of data being created every day, people are increasingly concerned about how much information companies are collecting on them and how this data is being put to use. With the abundance of smartphones, laptops, wearables, and smart home systems being used today, customers are more puzzled than ever about companies listening to their conversations and tracking their activities.
Volvo is now adding one more touchpoint to their customers’ lives by introducing in-car cameras.
We are not advocating whether this is good or bad for society; in this piece, we look at the manner in which they chose to deliver this communication and analyze it from a marketing and consumer behavior lens. If you haven’t seen the ad yet, quickly watch it here before reading the blog further.
The world is scared
Ever since the iCloud leak in 2014, people are more scared about the personal information collected and stored by companies eventually getting into the wrong hands; and with the Facebook scandal of 2018, the trust in companies itself has dwindled. The interest in “data privacy” is double of what it was five years ago. One of the biggest criticism of Amazon Alexa and Echo devices is that they are apparently ‘always listening’, and there is no way to know exactly what data is being collected and how it is being used.
Hence, if Volvo wants their in-car cameras to go over well with the customers, it needs to ensure that they are transparent with their intentions — and judging by the advertisement, it looks like they understand this well.
Btw, we are doing this now.
Did you notice that in the 110 seconds long commercial, they barely talked about the cameras except for like 5 secs towards the end? There are no details about how they will implement it or even when these would be rolled out — this is more of an announcement than an advertisement. And that is because this idea is still in the awareness phase. When you have a product or feature to be introduced to the customers (and that too a sensitive one), it makes sense to first ensure that the audience trusts you before you nudge them in that direction. And in our opinion, Volvo has done it remarkably well. In the ad, they primarily establish themselves as a pioneer of safer driving practices — with all the lives being saved by their seat belt innovation — so that the belief that Volvo is a trustworthy and responsible company is established well in the minds of the audience. And once that is done, it informs them about their newest innovation and leaves them with an afterthought.
Shifting focus
So the concept of shifting focus is simple — if the customer talks about A, you talk about B. And especially if A is has a negative connotation, it is easier to talk about something positive than refuting the negative with logic. In this scenario, one of the things that come to mind is ‘Would my data captured by the cameras be safe?’. Volvo understands that no matter how transparent they are with the data collection and usage, customers will always find it a bit dubious. Hence, they don’t talk about it at all, shifting the focus completely to the safety this feature will bring for the customers. This makes the communication more about the value it adds to the customers and less about the costs incurred for the same.
We were right
One interesting thing about the whole campaign is how Volvo is not just being open about how their seat belt innovation was met with skepticism; they are embracing it — a way of saying that they were not as terrible and wrong as everyone thought. It reinforces the thought that people don’t know what they want until they use the product.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
- Henry Ford.
And if the customers start believing this too — that Volvo knows better what is better for them than them — it would be easier for the company to introduce the new feature without worrying much about the backlash. Again, it's all about building trust. Add on to that the genuine experiences shared by the survivors; it puts the audience face-to-face with the stark reality of road safety; the emotions are too strong to counter.
A peek into the future
60 years ago, when the seat belt was launched, it was seen as a violation of human rights. Guess what, that’s not the case in 2020. People no longer see seatbelts as a human rights violation. And Volvo is hinting at this, giving us a peek into the future that even though introducing in-car cameras might not be seen as a good idea now, years from now, it might make more sense in hindsight.
Shot in black-and-white with emotional and (later) triumphant music, this stunning One Million More campaign accentuates the importance of road safety and the role Volvo has played historically. Building upon its legacy, the company is now going a step beyond to ensure its customers’ safety. Whether it is good or not is open to debate, but the campaign is definitely interesting.
Let us know your thoughts in the responses. For more interesting campaigns and analysis, follow Nacho Marketing!
