Greta Garbo returns to front a new era of frictionless engineering

The campaign bridges the past and future by pairing high-tech magnetic levitation with a century-old business model. SKF is reintroducing a financing strategy from 1919, allowing customers to offset the cost of new equipment through energy savings generated by the technology. President and CEO Rickard Gustafson noted that while the tech eliminates friction by suspending shafts in magnetic fields, the firm must lower adoption barriers to drive widespread industrial change.

These magnetic bearings are currently deployed in data centers, cooling systems, and semiconductor manufacturing. By combining this hardware with AI-driven monitoring, SKF intends to reduce wear and energy consumption simultaneously. Global Head of Communication Per Nilsson stated that the decision to bring back Garbo serves to make the company's technical message more resonant in a crowded landscape. The initiative was developed in coordination with the Garbo family to ensure the late actress’s image is used with institutional sensitivity.