The archive · PR & Stunts · Marketing decision · 2015
Volvo's invisible LifePaint spray makes cyclists glow in headlights — 2 Cannes Grands Prix
In 2015 Volvo and Grey London released LifePaint, a washable spray invisible by day that glows in car headlights; it won two Cannes Grands Prix.
Volvo Cars · Grey London
What it had to solve
Volvo's stated belief is that the best way to survive a crash is not to crash. The UK brief was to act on cyclist safety — where darkness hides riders from drivers — rather than advertise a car.
How it works
In March 2015 Volvo Car UK launched LifePaint with Grey London and Swedish startup Albedo100: a water-based reflective spray that is completely invisible in daylight but glows in the glare of car headlights. Applied to clothes, helmets, bikes, backpacks, prams or dog leads, it lasts about a week before washing off.
The campaign's message was Volvo's own safety philosophy — 'the best way to survive a crash is not to crash' — pointed at cyclists, who suffer more than 19,000 injuries a year on UK roads. Instead of a scare ad about danger, Volvo gave riders a tool that made them visible.
LifePaint launched in six cycling shops across London and Kent and spread through coverage and word of mouth. It won the Promo & Activation Grand Prix and then the Design Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2015, two of the festival's top honors, for Grey London.
The project showed a car brand spending its creative energy on the people who share the road with cars — and being rewarded for the idea rather than for the spot.
Why it lands
- The product embodied the brand promise: invisible until needed, it made 'not crashing' into something a cyclist could literally wear.
- Giving away a safety tool instead of airing a scare ad changed the conversation from selling cars to sharing roads.
- The invisible-by-day, glowing-at-night mechanic was a story people could retell, which is why coverage and juries carried it.
- A tiny launch — six shops — let Volvo test a radical idea cheaply, and the idea's strength did the scaling.
What it did
The idea won the Promo & Activation Grand Prix and then the Design Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2015, drew global coverage, and got Volvo's safety philosophy discussed without the campaign selling a single car.
What you can take
A brand can act as the solution rather than advertise it: LifePaint's invisible-until-needed design embodied 'the best way to survive a crash is not to crash', earning the idea two Grands Prix.
Since then
LifePaint became the most decorated work of Grey London's Cannes run in 2015, and the invisible-reflective-spray concept traveled internationally as an example of product-as-communication. Volvo's initiative did not become a permanent retail line, but the campaign remains a standard reference for brands that want to act on a safety problem instead of advertising around it.
Sources
- Volvo designed a reflective spraypaint to make cycling safer at night
- Grey London Takes Promo Grand Prix for LifePaint, Which Lights Up Cyclists at Night
- Grey's LifePaint Wins Another Grand Prix, as 'Proud Whopper' Keeps Racking Up Lions
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