{"id":9188,"date":"2013-11-18T11:05:43","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T06:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramble.sunmatrix.com\/?p=9188"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:48:12","slug":"volvo-trucks-the-epic-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/volvo-trucks-the-epic-split\/","title":{"rendered":"Volvo Trucks: The Epic Split"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brands all over the world are trying to create branded content. Volvo did that with great success last month when they filmed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/volvo-trucks-the-hamster-stunt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a hamster drive their entire truck up a mountain<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Volvo demonstrates the precision and directional stability of its dynamic steering by getting Jean-Claude Van Damme to carry out his famous split between two reversing Volvo FM trucks. Here, \u201cdynamic steering\u201d refers to the steering system helping the truck hold a steady line under motion. The video, since release, is reported to have already passed 7 million views.<\/p>\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M7FIvfx5J10?fs=1&amp;playsinline=1\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"fullscreen; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<h2>A feature demo disguised as spectacle<\/h2>\n<p>The mechanism is as clean as it gets. Take a technical claim, steering stability under motion. Express it in one unmistakable image that needs no explanation. Two trucks moving backwards in sync, a human balancing point-to-point between them, and the steering system as the silent hero.<\/p>\n<p>In global industrial and automotive marketing, the most reusable branded content is engineered proof that compresses a technical benefit into a single, legible visual.<\/p>\n<p>By \u201cengineered proof,\u201d I mean a demonstration where the product capability is the only plausible explanation for what you see.<\/p>\n<h2>Why the internet did the media buy for them<\/h2>\n<p>This lands because it is instantly readable and instantly arguable. People share it to say \u201cthis is real.\u201d People share it to say \u201cthis is impossible.\u201d Either way, the product claim travels with the argument.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extractable takeaway:<\/strong> If your product advantage is hard to feel in a 30-second explanation, translate it into a one-frame \u201cimpossible\u201d moment. The real question is \u201cwhat made that possible.\u201d Then let the audience debate the stunt while your feature becomes the answer.<\/p>\n<p>It also avoids the common branded-content trap of overstorytelling. The brand stays in the background, the demonstration stays in the foreground, and the audience does the meaning-making in their own words.<\/p>\n<h2>How to borrow this pattern without a movie star<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Start with one feature you can prove.<\/strong> Pick a claim that can be demonstrated, not merely asserted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design for instant comprehension.<\/strong> If a still frame cannot tell the story, simplify the setup.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make the proof self-contained.<\/strong> The audience should not need a voiceover to understand what is being tested.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keep the brand restraint.<\/strong> Overbranding weakens believability. Let the test carry the persuasion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h2>A few fast answers before you act<\/h2>\n<h3>What is Volvo\u2019s \u201cThe Epic Split\u201d demonstrating?<\/h3>\n<p>It is designed to demonstrate the precision and directional stability of Volvo\u2019s dynamic steering by showing two reversing trucks holding a steady path while Jean-Claude Van Damme performs a split between them.<\/p>\n<h3>Why does this count as branded content instead of \u201cjust an ad\u201d?<\/h3>\n<p>The primary value is the demonstration itself. The content is built to be watched and shared as a feat, with the product benefit embedded in the feat rather than delivered as a sales message.<\/p>\n<h3>What makes a stunt like this more shareable than a typical product film?<\/h3>\n<p>Instant readability plus high stakes. A single image communicates the premise, and the audience immediately wants to test whether it is real, which drives sharing and discussion.<\/p>\n<h3>How do you know the spectacle is actually proving the feature?<\/h3>\n<p>If the moment works as a still frame, stays understandable without voiceover, and the technical claim is the only plausible explanation, then the spectacle is doing real demonstration work, not just decoration.<\/p>\n<h3>How can smaller brands apply the same approach?<\/h3>\n<p>Reduce the ambition, not the logic. Prove one feature with one clear test, make it understandable in one glance, and remove anything that distracts from the proof.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brands all over the world are trying to create branded content. Volvo did that with great success last month when they filmed a hamster drive their entire truck up a mountain. Now, Volvo demonstrates the precision and directional stability of its dynamic steering by getting Jean-Claude Van Damme to carry out his famous split between &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/volvo-trucks-the-epic-split\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Volvo Trucks: The Epic Split<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Volvo proves dynamic steering precision with Jean-Claude Van Damme\u2019s split between two reversing Volvo FM trucks, a branded stunt built for mass sharing.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,2736],"tags":[7442,7930,2844,8451,8450,5207,5211,5210,8449,6921,5209,6256,2254,180,5121,5208,5206,5123],"class_list":["post-9188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-strategies","category-viral-videos","tag-automotive-advertising","tag-b2b-marketing","tag-branded-content","tag-commercial-film","tag-directional-stability","tag-easy-to-drive","tag-jcvd","tag-jean-claude-van-damme","tag-precision-engineering","tag-product-demonstration","tag-reversing-trucks","tag-stunt-marketing","tag-viral-video","tag-volvo","tag-volvo-dynamic-steering","tag-volvo-epic-split","tag-volvo-fm","tag-volvo-trucks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-content\/uploads\/volvo_epic_split.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYpE1-2oc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9188"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16623,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions\/16623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}