Volvo Made by Sweden - Experience the Incredible Beauty of Winter in Sweden in Director Gustav Johansson Sweeping Short Film “Vintersaga”

Director Gustav Johansson unveils the next chapter of Volvo’s "Made By Sweden" campaign with a sweeping short film paying tribute to Sweden’s harshest conditions. Created by Forsman & Bodenfors, AdAge’s most awarded agency of 2014, the 4-minute piece “Vintersaga” takes us into the depths of a Swedish January – the month when the country shows itself from its harshest side with rain, snow, cold, wind and sun that hardly rises above the horizon.

It is also the period that defines Swedes the most. While people from all over the world flock to Sweden during the warm summer periods and enjoy the hours of extended daylight, only the residents choose to stay there voluntarily when the great melancholy rolls in. With the darkness and cold comes a special creativity that affects everything from the music the Swedes create to the cars that they build.

Gustav Johansson sought to capture visually the feeling of vemod - one of the most Swedish words, which does not have a clear or direct translation in English. Vemod is a complex emotion and a cultural phenomenon, comprising a tender sadness or melancholy mixed with a feeling of longing. Vemod is not an outward feeling, but more of a slow fretting inside of somebody. It is something that is sad, yet beautiful.
Produced by Gustav Johansson’s Scandinavian production company, New Land, and shot over a period of 11 days, “Vintersaga” sees the bleak Swedish January transformed into a breathtaking and affecting vision through the lens of the Swedish people. Set to the pulsating title track “Vintersaga,” performed by Swedish singer/songwriter Amanda Bergman and produced by Oskar Linnros, the powerful combination of audio and visual evokes a transformative, almost haunting, emotional experience in the viewer.

From claustrophobic snow-topped forests to vast seaside panoramas, the sleek Volvo slips through the soaring scapes, as quintessentially Swedish as the background itself. Gustav’s “Vintersaga” is an arresting film that translates a sense of both the forlorn and uplifting quality of vemod, while paying tribute to the Swedish heritage that is built into every Volvo.

Det här är en hyllning till Sverige när det är som kärvast. Ett tack till kylan, mörkret, blåsten och regnet. Därför att utan våra hårda svenska förhållanden hade vi aldrig tillverkat de bilar vi gör.
Vem som helst kan bygga en bil som fungerar i solsken och vackert väder. Att ta fram bilar som tar dig dit du ska oavsett väder och väglag är en helt annan sak. För oss är fyrhjulsdrift inte en onödig extrautrustning man kan skryta med, det är en funktion som tar dig hem.
Aktiva helljus, automatisk nödbroms och döda vinkeln-varnare är inte en lek med teknik, utan vettiga hjälpmedel för att köra tryggt och säkert genom ett Sverige där det stora vemodet rullat in.

Creative Credits:
Title: Volvo - Vintersaga - Made by Sweden
Advertiser: Volvo Car Sverige
Client: Åsa Borg, Per Carleö, Mikael Karlsson
Product: Volvo V70, XC70 and XC60
Advertisers Supervisor: Per Carleö
Advertisers Supervisor Titel: Marketing Communications Manager

Advertising Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Art Director: Andreas Malm, Staffan Lamm
Copywriter: Fredrik Jansson
Designer: Mikko Timonen
Account Director: Anders Bothén, Hans Andersson, Erik Sollenberg
Account Executive: Martin Johansson
Agency Producer: Jens Odelbring
PR Strategist: Mathias Ericsson
Web Producer: Malin Careborg

Director: Gustav Johansson
Director of Photography: Niklas Johansson
Editor: Sam Ostrove
Production company: New Land
Executive Producer: Erik Torell
Producer: Sophie Tamm Christensen
Production Manager: Sophie Hedberg

Grade: Mike Cosola
Sound Design: Martin Dahl STOPP (Stockholm Post Production)
Post Production: Johan Boije STOPP (Stockholm Post Production)

Musical Artist: Amanda Bergman
Title of song: ”Vintersaga”
Written by: Ted Ström
Produced by: Oskar Linnros
Music Supervisor: André Brink & Jonas Holst, Universal Music Publishing Scandinavia
Published by: BMG Chrysalis Scandinavia A
Label: Sweden Music / Universal Music

Mastered by: Björn Engelmann, The Cutting Room

Photographer: Felix Odell
Production company: CameraLink
Post production: Johan Cabezos, Señor & F&B Factory
Media agency: Mindshare
Social media agency: The Viral Company

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Motor racing personality Tiff Needell challenges a Koenigsegg One:1 in a Volvo truck

In Volvo Trucks' new film ‘Volvo Trucks vs Koenigsegg’, motor racing personality Tiff Needell drives a Volvo FH against one of the world's fastest sports cars – a Koenigsegg One:1. The aim is to put the new I-Shift Dual Clutch gearbox, based on a technique used in sports cars, to the ultimate test.

Beside a Volvo FH – designed for long heavy transport assignments, stands a Koenigsegg One:1 – one of the world's fastest cars that is capable of 0–400 km/h in less than 20 seconds. Behind the wheel of the truck sits the experienced motor racing personality Tiff Needell, who normally presents the British motoring programme Fifth Gear. In a few seconds, the two vehicles will come up against each other on the Knutstorp race circuit in southern Sweden, a track known for its hills and sharp curves. To stand a fair chance, the Volvo FH received a minor handicap - the truck will drive one lap while the Koenigsegg drives two. Despite this, the conclusion is still unpredictable.

“Being a racing driver, you're never afraid. You are always confident in your machinery. I was a bit apprehensive about driving a truck on a racetrack, since I'd never done it before. However, after I had driven it for a while I began to have full confidence in the Volvo,” says Tiff Needell.

The decision to challenge a racing car with a truck is no coincidence. The newly launched transmission in the Volvo FH – the I-Shift Dual Clutch – is based on a technique used in sports cars.

“Matching a Volvo FH against Koenigsegg One:1 was a great challenge, to see if our new gearbox delivers what it promises in terms of driveability,” says Per Nilsson, PR Director at Volvo Trucks.

Without revealing the results, Tiff Needell admits he was impressed by the performance of the truck.
“I-Shift Dual Clutch is absolutely incredible. It is particularly noticeable on slopes, the truck does not hold back – it just flows smoothly, without the gear changes being felt. When you brake, it switches down very softly and comfortably. The truck definitely has the heart of a sports car,” says Tiff Needell.

At Koenigsegg, they had no hesitations in taking up the challenge from Volvo Trucks.
“We are always open to an exciting challenge. At the same time, it was particularly fun to race against a Volvo truck, because we have much more in common than just having sports car technology in our vehicles. We are two Swedish premium brands that are both at the forefront of our different segments,” says Christian von Koenigsegg, founder and CEO of Koenigsegg.

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Volvo - From Sweden Not Hollywood

Volvo Cars UK has unveiled its latest campaign, From Sweden Not Hollywood – a series of 28 visually-striking idents for its sponsorship of Sky Atlantic. The two year partnership sees Volvo appear in Sky Atlantic for 60 seconds every hour of programming, 24 hours a day.

Created by Grey London, the idents – which will be on-air until 2016 in a deal brokered by Mindshare & Sky Media – celebrate the art of Hollywood filmmaking by playfully adding a touch of Swedishness to well-known film terminology.

Filmed in Stockholm and Kiruna, the insightful executions compare and contrast the explosive drama of Hollywood production to the no-less-dramatic natural beauty of Sweden. Beautifully shot, they reflect the pillars that underpin Volvo’s revamped brand positioning: ambition, simplicity, authenticity, Swedishness, and the same level of design quality and craft that goes into its cars.

Idents include:

Soundtrack, from Sweden not Hollywood: the visceral roar of a thundering hillside waterfall.

Body double, from Sweden not Hollywood: the shimmering, rain-patted reflection of an isolated, serene-looking lakeside Volvo car.

Greenscreen, from Sweden not Hollywood: a bird’s eye view of a road winding through a stunning, as-far-as-the-eye-can-see Swedish forest.

Suspense, from Sweden not Hollywood: a Volvo’s headlights creeping their way through an eerie, foggy, dense and pitch black forest.

Kylee Rush, Brand and Launch Manager at Volvo Car UK, says: “These eye-catching idents are epic, in-line with both Sky Atlantic’s programming and Sweden’s landscape itself. The series allows us to organically showcase two Volvo cars, the XC60 and V40, within visually stunning Swedish vistas, while simultaneously talking to viewers in a very intelligent and human way. Furthermore, the programming we are sponsoring is very premium, appointment-type television, and therefore very much aimed at our target audience for Volvo.”

The creative team at Grey, Erik Uvhagen and Johan Leandersson, are both Swedes, as is the project’s planner, Wiktor Skoog, who adds: “Our aim – and we hope we’ve achieved it – was to speak in a non-intrusive, stimulating and relevant way to our target audience. There’s a natural correlation between Sky Atlantic programming and Volvo’s brand messaging, and the idents tell a story in their own right – with each pair introducing a concept before the ad break before revealing the idea at the end.”

In total, 28 different idents will roll out over the remainder of the year, while new executions featuring Volvo’s flagship all-new XC90 model will debut in 2015 to mark the model’s introduction to the UK.

Credits:

Project name: From Sweden Not Hollywood

Client: Georgina Williams, Head of Marketing @ Volvo and Kylee Rush, Brand and Launch Manager, Volvo

Ad Agency: Grey, London

Creative Director: Joseph Ernst

Copywriter: Erik Uvhagen

Art director: Johan Leandersson

Account team: Cristyn Bevan

Agency producer: Francesca Mair

Planner: Wiktor Skoog

Media agency: Mindshare

Media planner: Steve Proud

Production company: RSA

Director: Juriaan Booij

Editor: Matt Newman

Producer: Josh King and Pedro Pinto

Designer: /Johan Leandersson

DOP: Zubin Mistry

Post-production: Gramercy Park Studio– Ben Rogers

Soundtrack composer: Joe Mount, Jack Sedgwick, Parv Thind

Audio post-production: Wave Studios

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Teaser: Volvo Trucks challenges one of the world's fastest sports cars - a Koenigsegg One:1

Volvo Trucks has been busy these last few years taking on the world with some amazing videos and stunts. So of course they are now ready to take on the ultimate challenge - a race between a Volvo FH and one of the world's fastest sports cars - the Koenigsegg One:1.

A Volvo FH in a race against one of the world's fastest sports cars. This is the scenario in Volvo Trucks’ upcoming film ‘Volvo Trucks vs Koenigsegg’. The aim is to put the new I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission, based on sports car technology, to the ultimate test.

Following the release of its newest product feature, the I-Shift Dual Clutch, Volvo Trucks is getting ready to put its technology to the test. On the 11th of November, Volvo Trucks will show the world what happens when you race a heavy duty Volvo truck against the world's first megacar – the Koenigsegg One:1.

“Matching a Volvo FH against Koenigsegg One:1 is the perfect challenge to see if our newly launched I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission lives up to expectations in terms of driveability and driving comfort that comes with seamless gear shifting,” says Per Nilsson, PR Director at Volvo Trucks.

Behind the wheel of the Volvo FH we find the motor racing personality Tiff Needell, who is today a presenter on the British motoring TV series Fifth Gear. The race takes place at Ring Knutstorp in southern Sweden, a track known for its hills and sharp curves.

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Grey London Creates "The Swell" for the new Volvo XC60

Grey London has unveiled its first work for Volvo Car Group: a beautifully-shot, highly sensory film urging the viewer to ‘seek feeling’ – a dramatization of Volvo’s human-centric ethos.

The quietly epic film – a global TV campaign for Volvo’s existing XC60 model – is a shift in tone for the car manufacturer. Moving the brand into a more premium space, it introduces some of the pillars that will underpin its revamped brand positioning: ambition, simplicity, authenticity, Swedishness, and the same level of design quality and craft that goes into its cars. It represents a stylistic prologue to what is to come from the Volvo Kreativ Studio, including a high-profile, multi-faceted campaign for the launch of Volvo’s revolutionary flagship model XC90.

The film itself is about movement; about dynamism and intuitive response – the visceral, emotional experience of the Volvo XC60 brought to life. It begins in the passenger seat of the car –parked on an empty beach, radio quietly humming in the background, door left open, and a pair of shoes discarded in the footwell. Moving toward the water, the radio fades into the distance – drowned out by the sound of the ocean as we reach the shoreline…

“to feel
to really feel
is a rare thing these days”

…then out into the surf. Through the water, through the first tentative laps to the thundering crash of enormous waves, out into the darkness…until the water is still. Serene. A lone figure sits on her surfboard, her windswept silhouette visible only through the moonlight. Staring out toward the horizon, she’s waiting; a defiant look in her eyes.

And then it comes. The swell rises. A wave approaches, powerful and unstoppable. Adrenaline racing, we rise up. She rises up. Her arm takes one graceful, powerful swipe through the water as the wave is about to break…and then we cut. Against the black, we hear the earth-shaking thunder of the wave collapsing. The film ends with the line ‘Seek Feeling. The responsive XC60’.

Hollie Newton, Global Creative Director at Grey London, says: “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.”

Marcus Söderlund, Director (and Swede), adds: “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. After looking at dozens of potential locations, Durban emerged as the only that 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 – with 46 year old Cape Town resident and experienced surfer Lisette Forsyth eventually chosen. Not only was she at ease in the ocean and a passionate surfer, she had a beautifully graceful and serene look in the water.

The campaign is Global Creative Director Hollie Newton’s first for Grey since joining from Wieden + Kennedy last year, where she created Lurpak’s multi-award-winning Good Proper Food. It was directed by Gothenburg-born Marcus Söderlund through Academy. Print photography was from Gian Paul Lozza, best-known for capturing his subject using only ambient light. Allan “Willy” Wilson – famed for his surf films – was underwater DoP, while 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.

Credits:
Project name: The Swell
Client: Volvo: Tomás Caetano (Vice President Brand Marketing), Ingela D'Angelo, (Director, Marketing Communication), Magnus Brodd (Marketing Content Director), Anna Wirsen (Project Leader)
Agency: Grey London
Executive Creative Director: Nils Leonard
Global Creative Director: Hollie Newton
Creative Team: Hollie Newton / Jamie Starbuck / Howard Green
Managing Partner: Nick Dutton
Business Director: Camilla Ashenhurst
Account Manager: Mel Caplan
Agency producer: Harriette Larder
Creative producer: Glen McLeod
Planning Director: Matt Buttrick
Planner: Hayley Cannon
Production company: Academy Films
Director: Marcus Söderlund
Editor: Tom Lindsay @ Trim
Producer: Medb Riordan
Exec Producer: Lizie Gower
DOP: André Chémétoff / Allan “Willy” Wilson
Colourist: Aubrey Woodiwiss
Post-production: Yourick Van Impe (Flame) & Aubrey Woodiwiss (grade) @ Electric Theatre Collective
Audio post-production: Aaron Reynolds @ Wave
Photographer: Gian Paul Lozza

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