What’s more compelling than watching someone walk between two moving big rigs on a highline? Watching a giggling curly-headed 3-year-old open the world’s biggest box to unveil a shiny new tractor-trailer, apparently.

For the recent launch of the new Volvo VNL, Volvo Trucks North America broke the record for the largest object unboxed, a feat verified by the Guinness World Records organization. But the resulting video, capturing young truck-lover Joel Jovine’s delight in opening the giant box, also quickly became VTNA’s most-watched film of all time, with 25 million views across all channels.

Photos: Volvo Trucks

Photos: Volvo Trucks

For the Guinness title, the silver VNL model was packed inside an 80-foot by14-foot by 18-foot box. Guinness World Records guidelines stated that the box had to completely encapsulate the Volvo VNL and then needed to be opened manually, using no tools, and that the truck had to be removed from the box without destroying the box during the process.

VTNA’s parent company is no stranger to viral videos. Its most successful, The Epic Split, has racked up 86 million views. I watched it again the other day.

But Volvo’s other viral videos trail behind the "Unboxing," with 4-year-old Sophie’s Stunt at 13 million views, the Ballerina stunt (the aforementioned highline stunt) at 11 million views, and the Hamster stunt at 7 million views.

Volvo followed up with a video with a peek behind the scenes at the making of the video. Check it out:

About the author
Deborah Lockridge

Deborah Lockridge

Editor and Associate Publisher

Reporting on trucking since 1990, Deborah is known for her award-winning magazine editorials and in-depth features on diverse issues, from the driver shortage to maintenance to rapidly changing technology.

View Bio
0 Comments