Sorry bat Upfront but …..

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The maker with the bad image says most people like the Bloody Volvo Driver ads and that critics are merely more vocal.

The bold Bloody Volvo Driver ads appear to have backfired after almost three months on air.

The $3 million campaign designed to make a mockery of Volvo jokes and defuse the bad driver image has instead revived the gags and angered existing customers. It also failed to ignite Volvo sales, which – despite the fact that the maker has more models to choose from – are down 20 percent on last year.

With seven of the eight commercials telecast (the final instalment starts next week), Volvo has been forced to defend its actions after both the maker and the Advertising Standards Board received complaints.

Volvo owners have vented their anger on talkback radio and newspaper letters pages across Australia and written to the company.

As one Volvo driver wrote to The Age newspaper this week: “We bought our Volvo for its engineering and safety excellence, long before the company decided to ridicule its customers. However, my wife now refuses to drive her Volvo because she has experienced the company-inspired Volvo road rage. My wife has now finished the Volvo phase of her life; the company has lost her forever.”

Another wrote: “I didn’t know there was a problem until Volvo announced it.”

The ASB recently upheld a complaint about the commercial in which a young girl calls her mother a “Bloody Volvo Driver”. Volvo’s marketing manager Melissa Bell says the company, anticipating complaints, elected to broadcast the ad after 8.30pm.

Volvo has received “hundreds” of letters, of which half are positive, claims company chief Steve Blyth. Anticipating negative feedback, Volvo drafted a standard letter to send to each complainant, explaining that the campaign is not intended to offend customers and is designed to put an end to the gags.

A research firm phones 40 people weekly (including 15 Volvo owners).

Bell says the feedback is “extremely positive … Some people don’t understand it or are negative about it but they are in the minority. The recognition is really high.

“People understand why we’re doing this. This campaign is about showing that we are aware there is a problem and we’re trying to fix it and we have products that we’re proud of.”

Bell said Volvo’s head office “understands that this doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world … We tried branding ads and they didn’t work, so we’re tackling the issue head-on.”

Bell says the ads need more time before the campaign can be judged. “This is running until the end of next year and we’re yet to start the second phase.” In the next series of ads, Volvo aims to underscore the brand’s aspirational values with the catchline, “You wish you were a bloody Volvo driver”.

Social analyst David Chalke, of Australia Scan, said he admired Volvo’s strategy but had expected the ads to be “cleverer”.

“It’s the ad campaign Volvo had to have,” said Chalke. “The negative image was so strong that they just had to confront it. It’s a good strategy and a good technique. Most of us know it’s unfair to [make Volvo jokes] and we feel a bit guilty about it, but we still say them.

“People will complain – they always do – but Volvo talks to a well-heeled, well-educated audience. If they can’t understand a bit of wit then no one can.”