The modern malady of low battery anxiety is examined in this spot, “The Chase,” for Volvo plug-in hybrid automobiles out of agency Forsman & Bodenfors in Sweden. Set to the classic and surprisingly fitting song ”Sinnerman” by Nina Simone, the commercial follows a family’s stressful yet humorous chase for battery life from morning to night, a quest to which we all can relate. With the dad as the main character, played by renowned Danish actor Thomas Hwan, we see his reactions to everything from his Zoom meeting getting suddenly disconnected to his daughter mischievously stealing his charger.
In-between this, we see the car’s charger getting plugged in and plugged out; a visual metaphor for all the gadgets in our lives in constant need of charging. In the end, we see that the mom has stolen the charger for their other car. Luckily, it’s not an issue, and they can still go on the trip as planned since the Volvo Recharge plug-in hybrids are ”electric cars with a backup plan” as the tag line reads.
”Since the stress of low battery anxiety is something almost everyone can relate to, we wanted to highlight this in a hectic but also fun and entertaining way,” said Karl Risenfors, Art Director at Forsman & Bodenfors.
Directed by Laerke Herthoni of production company new-land, the film is part of a global campaign where Volvo says that on the road towards an all-electric future, it’s not just about the number of electric cars, but the number of electric journeys we enable. And that with plug-in hybrids, you can make sure most of your drive is electric, but know that you’re covered for longer journeys too.
