The Volvo China Open is not only a high-end sports event, but also an important bridge between the brand and the golf crowd. On this platform, Volvo integrates with the spiritual connotation of golf with its unique brand charm and exquisite automobile manufacturing technology to jointly convey a positive, upward and healthy life concept. Yuan Xiaolin, President and CEO of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, has a deep understanding and unique insights on this.
On the evening of November 5, the 2023 Volvo China Open with the theme of "Swing to the Future" came to a successful conclusion in Shenzhen.
Since 1995, when Volvo promoted the establishment of the "Volvo China Open", this tournament has been held for 28 consecutive years. Unlike the direct naming method, most of the events are run by operating companies, but the Volvo China Open is a Volvo Cars self-owned event, which is rare in many event fields. As for how the tournament went, in the words of the players who participated in the event, "it was very smooth and successful". This is not polite, but Volvo has indeed brought more benefits to the participating players, to put it bluntly, "a strong lineup, a high prize amount, and a lot of world points".
First of all, since this year's Volvo China Open has been upgraded to the Asian Tour (the first time in four years that the International Series has returned to China), the line-up has also changed a lot - 144 players from more than 20 countries or regions have met and competed here, including Grand Slam champions such as McDowell and Xu Yilong, former champions such as Zhang Huilin and Zhang Jin, as well as Chinese Tour rookies Ye Wocheng and Li Linqiang.
The gathering of the world's best players is not a bad thing for domestic players. In fact, in a normal event, there may only be 3 Chinese players who can enter such a level of competition, but because the Volvo China Open is held at the "doorstep", there are 49 Chinese players who can participate this year, which is a very good opportunity for them to prepare for the future Asian Tour and European Tour.
The total prize money of this year's Open is as high as 1.5 million US dollars (about 10.97 million yuan), and the Volvo pure electric MPV EM90 is also placed on the spot as a "hole-in-one" award, which is very attractive. After four days of fierce battle, Thailand's Sarait Suwannarut won the championship with a score of 269 (-19) and received a prize of US$270,000.
Why does Volvo always care about the "tonal fit"?
If you don't have a deep understanding of golf culture and the Volvo brand, you may not be able to understand why a car company has been running golf events for 29 consecutive years. I don't understand Volvo's vigorous investment and persistence for so many years, what is the starting point. After all, the sport requires a huge investment, and that doesn't always pay off – and that's why players are constantly suffering from a lack of courses and games.
In fact, Volvo's support for golf began in Europe, when it was named the European Tour in the 80s. The resonance of the concept is the direct reason for Volvo to "pay". Yuan Xiaolin said: "The Volvo China Open has deepened the image of simplicity, elegance and vitality that Volvo Cars represents, and at the same time helped Volvo Cars successfully build a bridge between the brand and the golf crowd, so that more consumers can feel the positive, healthy attitude and tasteful lifestyle that Volvo Cars reveres." ”
Golf represents greenery, oxygen, sunshine and friendship, much like the natural, healthy lifestyle of the Swedes. As Yuan Xiaolin said, "In fact, we have been asking ourselves a question, how can we continue to strengthen such an impression of "intellectuality, respect for people and the environment", including how to do a game of golf." Volvo is the first car brand in China to be integrated with a sporting event, and the Golf represents the kind of feeling that I just said we were trying to convey. When talking about this "feeling", Yuan Xiaolin used some very specific examples: "When you go to a scene, you will have a unique feeling, for example, as soon as you arrive in Gothenburg, you will know that this is Gothenburg, as soon as you arrive in Copenhagen, you will know it when you go to Stockholm." As soon as you go out, from the air, to the trees, to the surroundings, to its design features, including the texture of some things, you immediately know that this is a Nordic thing, and that is what Volvo represents. We are looking for such events or events, which contain such a feeling - when it comes out, it is in line with Volvo, which can show a kind of intellectuality, a kind of respect for people and the environment in which we live. ”
Not only this event, but also the recent Shanghai Marathon, Luo Xiang, who cooperated with Luo Xiang before, and the "Voice" program. When you see some ** or advertisements of Volvo, you will always have this feeling - ah, this cooperation is very suitable, this person is very suitable for Volvo, which is a brand impression precipitated by the Volvo brand.
We want to build a community, build a system.
In my opinion, Volvo Cars' value to Chinese golf is not only limited to creating a top-level tournament platform, but more importantly, it has built and consolidated a step-by-step tournament system and player development system - from the "Volvo National Junior Challenge" and "Volvo National Junior Match Play Championship", to the "Qualifying Tournament" restarted this year, and finally the "Volvo China Open". The path to the world's top professional golf tournaments has been perfected to cover the cultivation of young talents, professional and non-professional golfers and enthusiasts. For players, it is very important to train by competition. In the past many years, it has been rare to be able to build such a comprehensive competition system.
In this regard, Yuan Xiaolin made it clear in the interview that doing golf events is very similar to doing business: "We hope that everyone can really integrate into this kind of life, and truly form a place where they can exchange ideas and learn from each other, it is a community, and other activities can be linked together, which is a systematic construction." ”
This kind of mentality of Xu Tu, at least I don't think it's easy to form. Especially in the era of electrification, which seems to have been noisy all the time, we always see a lot of new words and "microblogging battles" that constantly switch protagonists, and more recently returned to the debate about the function of AEB. In contrast, Volvo even has a more "stereotyped" style of doing things, even if the opponent sends a new car in advance, they will still adhere to a complete and rigorous verification process, and the necessary tests are indispensable. This may also be the deep style of the company's managers - "Many of the challenges we face now are long-term, but some people are too anxious to deal with them in a very short-term way. If your company can support a long-term business operation strategy, then you should really cherish it, rather than pushing how the company must follow the new trend. ”
Looking back on the whole article, President Yuan Xiaolin's understanding and views on the Volvo China Open as a bridge between the brand and the golf crowd are of far-reaching significance. He believes that through such events, more people can understand and love golf, and at the same time, let everyone understand and feel the spiritual values and life philosophy represented by the Volvo brand more deeply. This two-way communication will not only help promote the development of golf in China, but also further enhance Volvo's influence and popularity in the Chinese market.
Disclaimer: The market is risky, choose carefully!This article is for reference only and is not intended as a basis for trading.