Reveille will be producing a new Web series about a driving school instructor, which will star “The Office” star Craig Robinson—together with the new Volvo C30 hatchback. The series is set to premiere on MSN at August 15. Volvo signed up to finance the show, making the series its first on the Web in the US, and is using it as the lead marketing initiative for its new C30 four-seat hatchback, which is likened to the Mini Cooper and aimed at a younger market than most of Volvo’s vehicles. Aside from providing the high-quality Volvo auto parts, the Swedish automaker will now be known for its ingenuity in the series as well.

Reveille came up with the concept for “Mr. Robinson’s Driving School” and took it to MSN. The station agreed immediately with Reveille when the idea was presented about 18 months ago, so MSN then pitched the idea to Volvo who has become a long-term advertising partner that is typically interested in innovative online marketing campaigns. The Swedish automaker was involved in the earliest stages of the show’s development, with the producers working to integrate the C30’s marketing themes and “attitude” into the series.

“MSN put Reveille and Volvo together and we jointly developed the concept and the show,” Howard Owens, managing director, co-head of domestic television and head of digital at Reveille said in an interview. “The car is integral to Craig’s mission and his heroic journey, and that journey is ultimately to prove he’s the best driving instructor in town. It made sense that his sidekick would be his car.”

Owens said Robinson enjoys the performance of the Volvo auto parts, to the point that he names his car and commiserates with it during the series. This mirrors some of the themes of Volvo’s C30 marketing campaign, which focuses on style, performance and individuality. “We integrated aspects of Volvo’s marketing campaign into themes for the new show without bastardizing the concept or jeopardizing the story,” he said. “Volvo put no restrictions on us in terms of the kind of content we could make.”

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