In 1975, US scientist Wallace Broecker put the term “global warming” into the public domain with his paper “Climatic Change: Are we on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” Almost 50 years of denial and heads in sand later, the overwhelming popular sentiment is coming into line with the scientific consensus: we need to do something about our carbon footprint urgently.

As an industry that’s amongst the most instantly associated with causing climate change, car makers are embracing this shift. Having invested billions in research and development, the industry’s busy promoting its new green alternative electric vehicles. This is a good start, but for Volvo, it’s only part of the picture. The Swedish car maker is driven by a passionate belief in its holistic philosophy towards sustainability. The challenge was how to make the world care about it as much as Volvo does.

The Zero Omissions idea gave creative edge to our strategic platform of 'sustainability means nothing without total honesty'. Without explaining itself any further, the headline’s simple play on words called out the category’s deceptive promise of zero emissions vehicles through unmissable OOH and targeted digital display.

Given the strategic emphasis on kick-starting a more honest conversation, the execution focused on Twitter as the natural home of online debate. The campaign built the momentum through a series of bold ‘truth bomb’ tweets. Each tweet served a dual purpose, firstly to highlight the industry-wide spin around electric carbon neutrality, but also to provide a compelling connection to Volvo’s holistic philosophy to making cars more sustainable.

This was a brave move, putting Volvo directly in the line of fire from competitors and consumers alike. By leaning into the strategic springboard of radical honesty, however, the creative execution encouraged an overwhelmingly positive reception.