In the increasingly fierce competition in the automotive market, how to effectively attract the attention of consumers is a problem that every brand must face. Volvo Liu Peng, with its rich industry experience and keen market insight, put forward a unique brand marketing strategy of "highlighting the product long board". He believes that only by truly understanding consumer needs and using this as a starting point can we formulate a marketing strategy that best meets the needs of the market.
Someone once talked to me about Volvo and said: After so many years, the communication point of the product is still close to safety, as if without safety, Volvo has no other bright spots. After all, to build a car in these years, you must play with comprehensive strength.
The goal of this comprehensive strength is to create a car with no shortcomings. For example, in front of luxury, you have to play driving control, and you have to play comfort outside of driving control, and there must be technology in addition to comfort, and of course, design and cost performance. To put it simply, you have to know everything, and you have to have highlights in everything. This is the product that can be accepted by the market and can be marketed.
However, I still remember that there was a communication veteran who had worked in a domestic car brand for more than ten years, lit a cigarette and patted me on the shoulder during a small talk, and said to me earnestly: "Old Joe, in fact, marketing can't solve all problems. ”
I agree on this point. After all, there are too many factors for every consumer to consider when buying a car, and a car that tries to satisfy everything can't be built in the first place, and even if it is built, it seems that it will become not good enough to be satisfied with everything. Therefore, there will be shortcomings, and a successful marketing method is to stretch the long board of the product as much as possible to attract as many consumers as possible.
Volvo, which has been following BBA in the luxury car market for many years, does not seem to be lagging behind in any area. This can be seen from the fact that after its acquisition by Geely, Geely Automobile and its Lynk & Co Automobile have rapidly transformed and gradually got rid of the inherent image of domestic cars. But for a long time, the marketing level has been tightly focused on safety, which has led to a preconceived notion that Volvo is a big enough brand, but it also rarely surprises.
But is security wrong?A safe car is clearly what people love and are most willing to accept. But just like your parents often nag in your ear. You know they're all right, it just needs a more vivid way to embrace it.
And in 2021, the one thing Volvo did the most right thing was to choose a more correct way.
Winner of the early mind occupation.
Volvo's spread has always been thick and impressive enough.
When I was still sitting in an engineering mechanics class, my teacher once told me about a message that Volvo had left a deep impression on his mind. This impression stems from an advertisement that Volvo did many years ago. In this advertisement, Volvo sits a container on top of the roof of its product to test its structural resistance and body rigidity.
Obviously, this advertisement formed a huge visual impact and spiritual impact in the eyes of the older generation of pioneers at that time. And in the concept of this group of people, the inherent concept that Volvo is "hard" is sown. This group of people then passed it on to generations of their students. Undoubtedly, in that era when communication was not diversified and China had no concept of advertising and marketing, such communication was undoubtedly a huge victory for the occupation of users' minds.
Since then, Volvo's communication has become serialized and has gradually become its own brand logo. In 1990, Volvo once set up a print advertisement with a sedan that was crashed front and rear, but the body was intact, with the slogan "We design every volvo to look like this". At the same time, Volvo also has the world's most unwanted car friend organization - Volvo Miracle of Life Club (members of this organization have escaped death in a bad accident because of Volvo's super safety performance).
There is no doubt that the original intention of such communication is absolutely impeccable, but for some people, including me, after receiving and understanding this information, the question is no longer volvo or other cars, but "to be or not to be". After all, the unbearable weight of life brings not the question of who to choose to drive on the road, but whether to drive on the road.
However, the times are different now, and the requirements for communication are naturally different. Naturally, Volvo also has new communication methods, and these communication methods have once again grasped the pulse of the times.
Heavy Volvo.
The pace of propagation has become lighter.
About two years ago, a Swedish friend of mine came to me and asked me about buying a used car. At the time, his focus was on choosing the right car for products like Toyota, Volkswagen and even Skoda. And my concern is, as a Swede, you can't think about Volvo when you buy a car in Sweden?And the answer he gave me was: he doesn't know about Volvo.
Obviously, it's not just this Swedish engineering man who doesn't know about Volvo. In fact, people's impressions of Volvo products are very limited. **In Northern Europe, we produce safe and luxurious cars. But what is it really good about?In fact, not many people can say the reason systematically. Therefore, if Volvo wants to truly make a breakthrough in marketing communication, it must break through the previous communication model and use a more direct, interesting and acceptable way to communicate.
We all know what happened after that. In the middle of 2021, Volvo launched three very impressive and interesting marketing campaigns**. The XC40 pure electric version is soaked in the fish tank from the whole and finally safely openedYuan Xiaolin, Senior Vice President of Volvo Car Group and President and CEO of Volvo Car Group Asia Pacific, personally stood on the six Volvo cars that were hoisted into the air to show the strength of the body "high-altitude stacking music".On Children's Day, the XC60 is driven by children to break through many obstacles to demonstrate the vehicle's active safety performance. This series of ** opened the prelude to Volvo's visual impact communication.
In fact, there were such impactful ** in the early years, such as Volvo Trucks, which once let Shange Winton play a word horse on a speeding truck, and thus showed the strength and beauty perfectly through handsomeness.
Volvo has spread the sealing advantages of the XC40 pure electric battery, the super body stiffness of Volvo's cage body, and Volvo's leading active safety technology, which provides safety and driving pleasure in addition to safety.
This series of communication is in line with several important concepts of Liu Peng, vice president of Volvo Cars Greater China Sales Company, in communication, that is, "product hardcore, in-depth interpretation, and visual shock".
In Liu Peng's view, Volvo's own products have a lot of hard-core technology, but it is not enough to know it, but also through the in-depth interpretation of the first-class platform, so that users can understand;What's more important is to make users remember it with stunning visuals.
In my opinion, what is more important and commendable is that Volvo has found a lighter way to solve the problem of heavy communication. In the most correct way, he said what was originally right. The advantage of this is that it does not make the theory more correct, but rather makes it easier for people to accept and remember.
In fact, such a communication model that pursues shock has existed in the early years. For example, Jaguar, which is in the same brand camp as Volvo, has engaged in a series of shocking communications in the past few years. For example, 360-degree volley rolls, 360-degree jumps over the Ferris wheel, and tightrope walking. Obviously, for more consumers, the shock of these communications is undeniable, but the practicality is up for consideration.
After all, no one can expect a volley leap when there is a traffic jam, and a tightrope to dry clothes when there is no way out. After all, the purpose of marketing is never only marketing, but also the efficient communication of effective information. And the way to lift weights is undoubtedly the best way.
Choosing a companion is an active act.
In fact, marketing is not limited to communication through visual impact, after all, such communication is phased, and the sustainability is not strong. And choosing a companion is obviously a more permanent way. In fact, the logic of finding spokespersons and collaborators is a common means in the marketing process of many enterprises.
The blessing of traffic and fan popularity will make the ** rate of a certain product in a specific circle increase rapidly, and trigger a certain degree of purchase boom. Not to mention, just recently, SAIC Audi's A7L chose a star with huge traffic to endorse the brand. And its fans began to choose SAIC Audi products as their own cars.
But if anyone can find the best way to find endorsements, I still recognize the Volvo national goddess Gao Yuanyuan, the cultural scholar Xu Zhiyuan, who is famous for "Thirteen Invitations", and Luo Xiang, the "extralegal fanatic" who is popular at Station B.
If you think you chose them just because of their huge traffic, that's not wrong. But more importantly, Volvo's choice to walk hand in hand with each of them clearly conveys the brand and product identity that Volvo wants to communicate.
They can represent exquisite and elegant design, intellectual and calm brand temperament, and rigorous and standardized car-making technology and safety. And for every ordinary consumer, including me, I can find a spokesperson who I like from the direction I like.
In Liu Peng's view, Volvo's brand is upward, and choosing the traffic carried by the spokesperson is not a priority, but more importantly, choosing people who are similar to Volvo's values and concepts. These people need to be in tune with Volvo's tone, be representative of the brand, and ultimately align with the preferences of Volvo's audience.
If it is said that FAW Audi's Yingjie Hui wants to reflect the personality and overall temperament of the brand elite at more levels;Then Volvo chose a spokesperson who is more in line with its own temperament to help the brand's marketing. Obviously, like Volvo, choosing a spokesperson who can highlight your brand temperament and convey your own brand needs is the right way to choose a spokesperson.
When you buy a car, you actually buy value.
If we look at marketing carefully, operations and communications are inseparable from the sales at the end of the day. Through communication and promotion, the product power and brand power are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but in the end, it is necessary to achieve the final blow through mid-end sales. In fact, I have said before that buying a car is not only about buying a product, but also about buying value.
Until now, Volvo's brand value has been divided between luxury brands and high-discount brands. The advantage of this is that more people can choose Volvo products, and the disadvantage is how to make the terminal sales more volatile**, without affecting the value of the brand, so as to continue to ensure the brand value of Volvo.
At this point, Volvo has started a new attempt in 2021. Take Volvo's pure electric vehicle T8 as a test to promote Volvo's direct sales model. Through the unified pricing of a single regional market, the pressure of dealers can be relieved, so as to prevent dealers' capital flow crisis and the possible price reduction and selling behavior that destroys the best system.
At the same time, Volvo has also opened separate electric vehicle sales areas in seven city center stores in Shanghai. In addition to dealer channels, we will try new sales channels for new energy vehicles. At the same time, as a brand with very mature traditional sales channels, Volvo has not given up on upgrading its existing dealer network.
Liu Peng once said in an interview not long ago: "Volvo's electrification trend is that 50% of Volvo will be electric by 2025, so we are trying both models." We are also interested in communicating with any new sales ideas." But that doesn't mean Volvo has to rely on the new direct sales model and abandon the dealers who have been with them all along.
In 2021, Volvo began to try to continue to promote the development of service process standards in 289 dealerships across the countryThrough training, the service standards of dealers can be upgraded and positive incentives will be carried outIn addition, Volvo also uses the newbie system launched based on big data to fully monitor all after-sales behaviors of dealers and all vehicles returning to the factory, so as to trace the source of each car product sold.
Obviously, for every ordinary consumer, the communication and publicity that can be seen can only stimulate their desire to buy car products, and a richer store network choice, more value-preserving value, and continuously upgraded services are the decisive factors that really make them make purchase decisions.
This series of changes at the marketing level has allowed Volvo to stabilize its position in the ever-changing 2021 auto market, and make slight progress. In the whole of last year, Volvo sold more than 170,000 products in the Chinese mainland market.
Among them, the XC60 sold 65,036 units for the yearIn terms of new energy products, the global growth of recharge models increased by 63 year-on-year9%, accounting for 27% of global sales for the year, a record high, and the recharge model in the Chinese mainland market increased by 77% year-on-year in December and 96% year-on-year for the year.
Of course, this kind of marketing can still only be called a phased success. According to Liu Peng's plan, Volvo will continue to launch more new communication methods for control and electrification in 2022, and finally in the next two to three years, all hard-core product points will be disseminated to consumers in new ways.
To a large extent, Volvo has taken the hardcore product point out of the realm of mere safety through a more creative and fun way of disseminating it. For more consumers, Volvo, with its stronger performance and more constant value, is obviously more likely to motivate them to buy.
In summary, Volvo Liu Peng's marketing strategy of "highlighting product longboards" has set a new benchmark for the automotive industry. He emphasized that brands need to have a deep understanding of consumer needs and develop marketing strategies based on them. This can not only better meet the needs of consumers, but also effectively enhance brand influence and market share. Liu Peng's views are not only applicable to Volvo, but also provide valuable references for other car brands. In the future, we look forward to seeing more companies adopt this consumer demand-oriented marketing strategy to bring better products and services to consumers.