For a marketing lover, it’s always difficult to point out a single advertisement and call it the best. But out of all the witty ones, here’s the interesting story of the one that broke the traditional advertising on a whole new level – Volvo.

To advertise on the costliest platform with the highest reach in the wealthiest country in the world is something that can only be possible with huge bucks in your pockets. It costs ₹ 41 crores for a 30 seconds advertisement on the Superbowl Sunday (Rugby), probably the highest in the world. Every year cars spend millions of dollars for greater visibility on the big night. In 2019 the Mercedes, Lexus, Kia, Toyota & Nissan spent more than $60 M, on that single day.

“So how does Volvo compete with its rivals and their millions spent on advertisements? We don’t. We steal it.”

How did Volvo do it?

Volvo wanted to break out of this loop but didn’t wish to compromise on the potential reach of Superbowl Sunday. And here’s where the greatest of the commercials rolled out. Days prior to the Superbowl Sunday, Volvo released a commercial saying “When you see a car commercial – any car commercial not just VOLVO during the Superbowl, tweet the name of your loved ones using the #VolvoContest and win an XC60 for them.” Twitter erupted, and the challenge spread faster than the COVID19, #VolvoContest trended every time there was a rival commercial aired on the Superbowl. 



When Mercedes wanted people to look at their ad, people immediately logged in on twitter, when Lexus spent 41crores there, VOLVO received 2000 tweets per minute here. With minimal amounts spent on giving away the free cars (XC60), Volvo not just created a boom for themselves here, instead they killed the millions of dollars, their rival spent, by distracting the viewers off the TV. While other car brands were struggling to gain the users’ attention, Volvo did it by not advertising.


By shifting the attention of people, Volvo substituted the one loud 30 seconds roar to a conversation throughout the super bowl. This amazing interception rose the sales of XC60 by 70% that month, thereby making it one of the highest growth in its history, Volvo also earned 230 M impressions valued at $44 M.

It was then referred to as “the greatest interception ever” by Financial Times & also won two big awards for ingenious marketing. 

Thus Volvo laid what could be called one of the greatest masterplans in the history of advertising.