https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAzX-PEMAD0
NASA veteran Cady Coleman helped to write this Volvo ad about an astronaut’s trip to space and back. Via Adweek:
Grey executive creative director Matt O’Rourke told Adweek that the Coleman connection came about when a music producer working on the campaign in its conceptual astronaut-and-husband phase said, “I have a cousin who’s also an astronaut. Do you want to talk to her?”
Coleman and copywriter Marisa Milisic ultimately collaborated to write the astronaut’s speech at the center of the film.
“I’ve hired consultants on other projects, but they’ve never been so involved or influential over the story we’re telling,” O’Rourke said. “It’s hard not to be inspired when you’re on the phone with an astronaut.”
The protagonist’s experience in the ad is not unlike Coleman’s own 20-plus-year stint as an astronaut. “I wanted to say it’s normal to have a family and be an astronaut,” she told Adweek. “You can be you and do the job that you dream of.”
O’Rourke said this spot most likely marks the end of this particular experiment with nonlinear narrative, but that he wants Volvo to keep exploring new forms of storytelling.
“My guess is we will be shifting gears, trying something new,” he said. “The [auto] category has gotten more into creating universes as opposed to single spots, and I want to keep pushing it,” he said. “It’s cool to see more brands and agencies exploring that model, because it makes TV more interesting to watch as opposed to 30 seconds of us talking about ourselves.”