Volvo Trucks | The Hamster Stunt | 2016
A Hamster (Not the Driver) Nearly Causes a Disaster / Volvo Trucks "The Hamster Stunt"
A 175-gram hamster takes the wheel of a 15-ton truck. The setting: a bumpy road right next to a cliff edge at a Spanish quarry.
The problem
Volvo Trucks had just announced new steering technology called Volvo Dynamic Steering. The pitch: even a heavy truck could be steered with just one finger. But words alone don't convince anyone. This video was made as part of a series of real-world demonstrations called "Live Test" to prove the claim.
The insight
Trucks aren't only bought by fleet managers. Drivers, mechanics, finance people, even their families—everyone around them ends up being asked "so how's that truck?" So instead of explaining the technology with numbers, Volvo needed something so surprising that people would want to tell others about it.
The idea
The idea was simple: if one finger can move it, a hamster's weight should be able to move it too. They rigged a hamster wheel to the steering wheel, and a hamster named Charlie ran after a carrot, turning the wheel as he went. A stunt driver handled the gas and brake separately. The truck made its way along the cliffside quarry road with the hamster in charge of steering.
What happened
The video was viewed more than 3.6 million times in its first week. The Live Test series as a whole won the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, and reportedly half of viewers said the video sparked their interest in Volvo trucks. In the middle of a price increase, Volvo grew its market share by 3 points.
Afterthought
The "real-world demonstration" format can feel overused, but watching this video reminds you there's still plenty of room to dig into it. The nerve to hand over a truck worth tens of millions of yen to a mouse, on a road running along a cliff—that's confidence in your technology, plain and simple. In an industry that usually leans on stats and numbers, Volvo brought out a hamster. I want to do work like that too.
