Someone stared at a Volvo on their phone for nearly 10 hours to win it

By Ronan Glon Updated February 11, 2019

1 of 2

S60 The Longest Drive — Image used with permission by copyright holder

S60 The Longest Drive — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Volvo really wanted viewers to ignore the 2019 Super Bowl, so it developed a promotional smartphone game to give them something else to do. Players could eat, drink, and party with friends, and they were allowed to listen to the game, but they couldn’t watch it or any of the million-dollar car commercials that peppered the event. The three viewers who won the staring contest received a brand-new S60 sedan to drive for two years.

Recommended Videos

The Swedish firm rebelled against the big game and the ad culture that surrounds it with a smartphone game called The Longest Drive. The app showed footage of the S60, the latest addition to the Volvo range, and it used facial recognition technology to track how much time each player spent looking at his or her phone’s screen. The three people who logged the longest time won a two-year subscription to Care by Volvo, the company’s subscription service. It includes an all-wheel drive S60 Momentum, routine maintenance, wear-and-tear items, and even insurance. The catch, of course, is that Volvo will ask the winners to return the S60 at the end of the 24-month period.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“At Volvo, we feel that this approach is better than just running a television commercial, it brings more excitement and engagement to our fans,” wrote Bob Jacobs, the vice president of marketing for Volvo’s American division, in a statement.

The Longest Drive lasted much longer than the Super Bowl. The winner stared at the S60 for precisely nine hours, 47 minutes, and 42 seconds. That’s even more impressive when you consider the game started at 6 p.m. ET. Second place went to a player who stared at the S60 for seven hours, 46 minutes, and 25 seconds. Finally, the third-place winner logged a time of seven hours, 37 minutes, and 51 seconds. Volvo hasn’t revealed the winners’ identities.

Participants took over 40,000 test drives, a number that eclipsed Volvo’s expectations. This isn’t the first time the company has rebelled against the Super Bowl, however. In 2015, it launched a promotional campaign called The Greatest Interception Ever and encouraged fans to tweet during commercials showing cars from rival automakers.

Updated on February 11, 2019: Added information about the winning viewers.

Topics

Contributor

Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

Cars

Volvo EX30 price, range, release date, specs, and more

Front three quarter view of the 2025 Volvo EX30 Cross Country in a graphic render.

The budget EV market is seriously heating up. While it turns out that the Chevrolet Bolt EV isn't long for this world, there's a new low-cost electric car in town, and it's set to make more affordable electric cars a whole lot more stylish. The Volvo EX30 "small SUV" has yet to be released to the public, but already many EV shoppers are considering it for their next car, considering its low price, solid range, and stylish design.

Curious about the Volvo EX30? We've been keeping an eye on the EX30's announcements and release, and can't wait for it either. Here's everything we know about the Volvo EX30 so far.
Volvo EX30 price

Cars

Starting under $40K, Volvo’s compact EX30 will be its most affordable EV, and its fastest

Front three quarter view of the 2025 Volvo EX30.

Electric cars aren't just an opportunity for automakers to be friendlier to the planet. They're an opportunity to try something new. That's what Volvo is doing with its new EX30 crossover SUV.

The EX30 essentially represents a third stage of evolution for Volvo's EVs. The Swedish automaker started with the XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge, two EVs based on an existing internal-combustion architecture. It then showed the EX90, which was designed from the ground up as an EV, but in the image of the gasoline-powered Volvo XC90. Now, we get to see what an EV can look like with all the gasoline baggage shed.

Cars

No mere EV, the sensor-stuffed EX90 is Volvo’s towering tech flagship

Front three quarter view of the 2024 Volvo EX90.

Volvo has reinvented its image over the past decade, taking its cars from stodgy to stylish, and keeping pace with tech developments. Now, it’s trying to do that once again.
The 2024 Volvo EX90 is the Swedish automaker’s new flagship — and it’s electric. This three-row, seven-seat SUV packs all of Volvo’s latest infotainment and safety tech, so its electric powertrain is an important statement of Volvo’s commitment to going all-electric in the future.
The EX90 isn’t a standalone EV. Its styling and tech will set the tone for future Volvos. The business case isn’t EV-specific either. The EX90 has the same form factor as Volvo’s popular XC90 SUV, which it one-ups in tech. Volvo isn’t trying to prove that it can make an EV; it’s already done that with the XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge. It’s just trying to make a good car.
“There are no gimmicks in the EX90.” Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan said in a keynote at the EV’s reveal in Stockholm. “All the technology that’s there is there for a reason.” And boy, is there a lot of it.

Stylish and sustainable
The EX90 is a conventional SUV design with the sharp edges shaved away. There isn’t even a hint of a grille, the door handles sit flush with the bodywork, and the wheels have smooth inserts between the spokes. It’s all to help minimize aerodynamic drag — an important consideration for an EV, as it helps increase range.
The result is a coefficient of drag (Cd) of 0.29, compared to 0.33 for the current Volvo XC90 three-row SUV (lower numbers are better). The EX90 isn’t the slipperiest electric SUV around; the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV has a 0.26 Cd. But Volvo’s designers retained a more traditional SUV shape, in line with the gasoline Volvo XC90, without resorting to the Jell-O mold shape of the Mercedes.
“The profile and a bit of the plan view is a bit rounder than maybe we’ve done in the past,” Volvo exterior design boss T. Jon Mayer told Digital Trends. “It’s not a jellybean blob by any means, but there are very minute details of how much roundness you put around the edges. This detail work, as well as a longer rear overhang, help keep air flowing smoothly around the car while following the minimalist ethos of Scandinavian design, keeping the bodywork visually clean.
The EX90 is a conventional SUV design with the sharp edges shaved away.