Volvo wants to be climate zero in 2040. It is the greatest challenge it has faced to date and has completely changed its way of making cars. In 2030, Volvo’s cars will be 100% electric, but Volvo know that this is not enough. That’s why they’re working on reducing both direct and indirect emissions. Because Volvo has always been committed to protecting people’s lives, and now they want to demonstrate that same dedication to protecting the planet by bringing awareness to the topic of climate change.

We transformed a magazine into a block of ice. We researched the official data regarding the tons of ice that have disappeared from the planet every year, and we calculated how many magazine-sized blocks melt every second, in order to transform our graphic into one of them. With a devastating message: “More than 80 000 pieces of ice the size of the one you’re holding in your hands, melt every second.”

Moreover, in order to provide the design with added realism, we employed advanced printing techniques using special varnishes to imitate the texture and shine of ice, conveying to the readers the sensation of holding a unique piece of ice in their hands.

Our strategy was clear from the start: find a medium that would help us make climate change tangible and present this reality in a way that would bring it to people’s attention, demonstrating that it is much closer than it seems.

So, we chose for our purposes the best medium that changes hands on a daily basis: the magazine. But not just any magazine. We need one that would make a difference and reach out target audience. The magazine MATADOR, in addition to being considered a collector’s item by its readers, it is characterized by its large dimensions and print quality. That’s why it was chosen to “bring to life” our block of ice and help us reach our consumers, raising their awareness regarding climate change.

When the idea of “The Ice Print” was first born, we worked quickly to make it a reality. First, we did research on the tons of ice that melt every year. According to one article in the science magazine “Nature”: “glaciers lose a mass of 267 ± 16 gigatons per year”.

Based on this data, we got in touch with an expert to calculate how many blocks the size of the magazine melt every second and transform our print design into one of them. This is how we came to the salient point of our ad: “More than 80 000 pieces of ice the size of the one you’re holding in your hands, melt every second.”

And finally, we contacted production techs in order to study the techniques that would allow us to imitate the texture of a block of ice in order to achieve a greater degree of realism.