Twilight sparks interest in Volvos
Posted by Team Boxwish on 24 November 2008 at 11.02AM
There have been some incredible movie cars over the years. The Aston Martin has dazzled in the Bond franchise, the Mini Coopers proved something to whistle about in The Italian Job and the DeLorean was a time-travelling sensation in Back to the Future to name but three, which presents the question: should we add the Volvo C30 to that list? The sports coupe enjoys a starring role in vampire love story Twilight and the thirst for blood has changed to a thirst for the car as young Americans are clamouring to get their hands on the movie motor.
As he does in the film’s source material, the Stephanie Meyer bestseller, its bloodsucker Edward played by Robert Pattinson who gets behind the wheel of the Swedish sedan. And rather than the customary 10 to 30 seconds of screentime afforded such brand tie-ins, the silver C30 gets a whopping four minutes to shine. It’s an unlikely and amazing platform for Volvo, who due to budgetary limitations can’t maximise on the exposure with advertising, but again fans are happily stepping in, posting videos on YouTube with titles and tag-lines such as The Day Volvo Died and “If you lived forever, what car would you live for?’‘
The top brass at Volvo are suitably thrilled with their big screen exposure as the model had only previously made a handful of TV appearances since its US launch a few years back. John Maloney, the Vice President of Volvo’s marketing and product planning enthused: “We knew that Twilight had a strong following and we were grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of bringing this exciting book series to life.”
Twilight only opened at US cinemas last Friday, but the craze began prior to the release with Volvo sellers inundated with requests for information on the C30 from the very un-Volvo market of teens and young women. Linda Swick, the president of International Promotions, the company that secured the product placement is surprised at the car’s impact. “We knew it would have a certain demo that it would attract,” she says, “but we didn’t think it would create this kind of buzz before the movie came out.”
Don’t worry Linda, neither did we. Buzz around a Volvo? I suppose it beats the Ford Anglia in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
[via Variety]
http://boxwish.com/article/image/452/la ... 519669[img]
