How we delivered Volvo's keynote presentation at the world's largest tech fair

The challenge

Delivering a keynote speech at the CES trade show in Las Vegas is a bit like playing the lead role on Broadway – everyone is watching you and are no second chances. The Volvo Group needed a concept that could define their entire participation: before, during, and after the fair.

Moreover, the presentation had to engage both the physical audience and thousands of digital viewers worldwide – for a full 60 minutes. And this would not happen on just any screen but (dare we say) on one of the world’s largest screens. We’re talking dimensions of 13,000*1280 pixels! This put enormous demands on all the material we produced.

The insight

At a time when everyone talks about the future, the Volvo Group holds a unique position. They have been helping to build it for almost a hundred years. With this insight as a foundation, we were able to create a powerful visionary and reassuring message: We know these are tough times and there’s much to be solved, but we take our responsibility – “We’ve got this.”

For who can say this with more credibility than the company that literally keeps the world rolling? They are – and have always been – confidently ahead. So, using the message ‘Confidently Ahead’, we delivered a show that left the entire CES breathless – and in total darkness.

The solution

The concept we created showed how the Volvo Group is leading the transition towards a sustainable future. It’s not about grand promises, but about concrete evidence of leadership through innovation and experience. To deliver this concept at CES, we developed a narrative where each part reinforced this message.

We created a visual world synonymous with being confident and deliberately chose a calmer pace for the film, slideshow, and graphics. This is because “confidence” is being able to trust that what you’re displaying is good enough to hold everyon’e attention for a longer duration. Instead of fast cuts, we settled on producing animated still images with a parallax effect, where we isolated different layers in the image to create a sense of depth and movement. In the middle of the keynote, a VR presentation was also conducted, produced by Edelman/DVA.

Throughout the process, we acted as a sounding board for the Volvo Group and helped them find a good narrative through the keynote speech, where speakers included Martin Lundstedt, Volvo’s CEO and Ebba Busch, Sweden’s Minister of Energy and Business.

We emphasized working with “show don’t tell” to keep the audience’s interest alive. One such example was staging a power outage on stage, right in the middle of Martin Lundstedt’s speech. This was used to exemplify the societal role that Volvo Group plays. When darkness fell over the audience, and the viewers’ screens went black, they literally experienced how important it is to keep the wheels of the world turning.

The results

Las Vegas is used to world-class entertainment. We’re not saying we reached the level of Celine Dion or Adele, but the cheers in the packed hall at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center after the performance was deafening.

Of course, this was mainly due to the brilliant speeches from Volvo executives and politicians – but we also know that our visual show elevated the entire event another notch. After CES, Volvo noticed increased interest from the media, and Ebba Busch, whose speech went viral. A column on the financial news site EFN stated that the keynote performance was simply “a success for Volvo.” We agree!

Scroll down to see the entire performance at CES.