Safety is a huge part of the Volvo brand. And now, the automaker, with help from Grey London, is extending the concept beyond its own drivers—to cyclists with whom they share the road—and beyond advertising, into product development.
Client and agency have collaborated with Swedish startup Albedo100 to produce LifePaint, a reflective safety spray designed to increase the visibility and safety of cyclists and others on the road at night. Invisible in the daytime, the spray glows brightly in the glare of headlights at night.
Here's the launch video for it:
It's not really paint. The transparent spray washes off and will not affect the color or surface of materials. It can be applied to almost any fabric—clothes, shoes, strollers, children's backpacks, even dog leads and collars—and last about a week after application.
Beginning today, 2000 cans of LifePaint will be given away at six London and Kent-based bike shops. If successful, the project will expand nationally and perhaps internationally.
"Our job isn't just to advertise our clients," said Nils Leonard, chairman and CCO of Grey London. "It's to help them make a positive impact on culture. With the creation of LifePaint, we've turned Volvo safety inside out, giving it away to the most vulnerable road users. What more positive action can a brand take than to try to save lives?"
Grey also used LifePaint to create "invisible" black posters that only reveal their message in the flash of a smartphone.
"This is the sort of work we want to be making," says Grey London creative director Hollie Newton. "Properly integrated innovation. Design a valuable, remarkable product for a brand, and then launch it with the same level of craft."
CREDITS
Client: Volvo
Creative Agency: Grey London
Chief Creative Officer: Nils Leonard
Creative Director: Hollie Newton
Creative Team: Jonas Roth, Rasmus Smith Bech
Account Team: Cristyn Bevan, Sophie Critchley, Alex Nixon
Planning: Wiktor Skoog
Head of Film: Glenn Paton
Integrated Producer: Francesca Mair
Assistant Producer: Talia Shear
Designer, Typographer: Chris Chapman
Creative Producers: Helen Llewelyn, Glen McLeod
LifePaint Collaborators: Albedo100
Production Company: Caviar
Director: Andrew Telling
Director of Photography: Jeremy Valender
Executive Producer: Louise Gagen
Producer: Adam Smith
Editor: Matt Newman at GreyWorks
Colorist: Julien Biard at Finish
Postproduction: Gramercy Park Studios
VFX Supervisor/Lead flame: Mark Beardall
2D Artists: Jamie Russell, Steve Miller, Kalle Kohlström
Post Producer: Annika Gustavsson
Sound Design: Munzie Thind at Grand Central Studios
Music Composition: Adam Halogen via Wake The Tow
Microsite: Paul Cackett, Piers Cleveland-Copeman, Johan Runge-Goransson @ clear.as