Geno Effler truly enjoyed the episode of Desperate Housewives in which Susan Mayer (played by Teri Hatcher) crashed her old Volvo XC70 into a lake and survived to replace it with the newer 2008 model. Volvo's VP of public affairs, North America, had sat at the table with the TV producers, the product placement company, and other Volvo execs, and knew it was perfect for the car company's main brand platform: safety.