This past week saw the release of the eagerly awaited iPhone X and a complete media frenzy over what is, on the face of it, an incredibly expensive & quite impractical telephone. It has made me (and I imagine many other people around the world) think that tech has maybe gone a little bit too far. Features which nobody really needs vs. features we actually want (like being able to plug in headphones).

This campaign by Volvo then ticked all of the boxes when it appeared in my newsfeed a little earlier today and it was the headline which caught me: Human Made.

The short advert does a wonderful job of demonstrating Volvo products' capabilities (off-road versatility, hardiness, safety for your family etc.), whilst also showing that their technology is made by humans, for humans, thus establishing a very personable & relevant connection. 

Particularly, what this advert does so well is it creates a real human connection between the brand and consumer. There is a little 'moment' in there for everyone, something they can associate with. 

Moreover, what makes this advert so successful is that whilst all of these technical advances can vastly improve your quality of life, we still want to feel (both physically and mentally) some connection with the world around us, seen through the little 'moments' which occur every few seconds in the advert.  

It is coincidentally also quite a nice slogan by which all digital communications should live. Your messages/communications should not feel constructed nor automated and you should be aiming to create a little 'moment' every single time someone interacts with you & your brand. That can be through having a joke with someone, putting a smile on their face or sending them a little piece of content which they might find interesting. 

If your communications are 'human made' then they will resonate with your target audience and crucially, you will create a little moment which is more powerful than you can imagine. As Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Volvo have realised that, and so should you.