LifePaint
Volvo Car UK2015
LifePaint is a 2015 product launch (reflective safety spray) for Volvo Car UK, created by Grey London.
Why it works
A car maker that built something for the people outside its cars. In spring 2015 Volvo Car UK and Grey London launched LifePaint, a spray developed with the Swedish start-up Albedo100 that is invisible by day but shines back in car headlights after dark, turning whatever a cyclist coats with it into a reflector. The first 2,000 cans were given away free through six London bike shops as a trial. Volvo's IPA effectiveness paper later counted more than 75,000 cans sold — revenue that covered the investment — and estimated that LifePaint customers went on to buy over 1,000 Volvos worldwide. At Cannes 2015 it took two Grands Prix, in Promo & Activation and in Design. It is studied as 'make a product, not an ad': a safety brand proving its positioning with a useful object. It is also a caution: in 2017 the UK's Advertising Standards Authority ruled a later LifePaint video misleading for exaggerating how the spray performed.
Techniques
- Purpose and cause Launches a spray that turns whatever cyclists coat into a reflector after dark, a car maker looking after people outside its cars.
- Ethos Proves a safety brand's positioning with a useful object rather than a claim, reinforcing its reputation for protecting people.
Sources · 4
- Volvo Car UK Launches Life Paint Initiative to Improve Cyclist Safety
- Grey's LifePaint Wins Another Grand Prix (Design, after Promo & Activation)
- Volvo Cars: "Or by" — how two little words made Volvo's safety matter again (LifePaint sales and car purchases)
- ASA Ruling on Volvo Car UK Ltd (complaint upheld)
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