“Seek feeling” is a new road for Volvo. It stands on a new Volvo positioning in which ambition, simplicity, authenticity and Swedishness have come to the fore. Volvo has a human face. And humans seek feeling. Especially when they buy premium cars.

Grey describes the showpiece of its first campaign for Volvo as, “…quietly epic film about movement; about dynamism and intuitive response – the visceral, emotional experience of the Volvo XC60 brought to life.”

The film uses a story about the experience of surfing as a metaphor for driving a Volvo. “…to feel
to really feel
is a rare thing these days,” it reminds its audience. Interestingly, the surfer is a woman…which is a really nice way of saying that the Volvo XC60 is a family car without ruining its performance story.

Volvo XC60 – The Swell from Grey London on Vimeo.

Hollie Newton, global creative director at Grey London, stated, “The last thing the world needs is another overly-retouched car, hooning down a mountain road to a soft rock soundtrack. There’s a defiant, slightly renegade Swedish spirit to Volvo that simply doesn’t fit with the bland world of car advertising. And thank god for that. We have an enormous suite of work coming up for Volvo which challenges the conventions of the sector. This is the first. A quietly epic piece of film that, hopefully, makes you feel something.”

Director, Marcus Söderlund, added, “I am working my way through the four classical elements with Grey: last time it was a fire film, now water. The perspective in this film is pretty special; it´s not a first person perspective. The whole way through it’s the viewer’s film and view.  Working in the element of water is fantastic – there is so much you just can´t predict or control. If you embrace that, you can get imagery you can’t even dream of.”

As very specific weather, moonlight and tidal conditions were required for the highly technical shoot, the time of year made shooting in Sweden impossible. Instead, the film was shot in Durban, South Africa. Dozens of potential locations were examined and rejected. Only Durban could provide the essential quartet of good waves, high-quality levels of moonlight, shark nets and – most importantly – an area which closely resembled Swedish environments. Just as vital as the location was the casting. 46 year old Cape Town resident and experienced surfer, Lisette Forsyth, was chosen because she is at ease in the ocean and a passionate surfer and she has a beautifully graceful and serene look in the water.

Creative credits: 

The campaign is Newton’s, first for Grey since joining from Wieden + Kennedy last year, where she created Lurpak’s much awarded Good Proper Food.

Swedish director, Marcus Söderlund, directed the film through Academy.

Print photography was from Gian Paul Lozza, best-known for capturing his subjects using only ambient light.

Allan “Willy” Wilson, famed for his surf films, was the underwater DoP

André Chémétoff, known for his beautiful, technical films such as Our Day Will Come by Romain Gavras and Jaron Albertin’s Sony Volcano – was DoP.