Volvo: all about the treble, no bass
Describing the Volvo brand in one word is easy: Safety. And, believe me, as a marketer, to get your brand down to one word is one of the most challenging tasks one can be asked to do. Furthermore, "safety" in terms of RTBs and Brand equity is one of the strongest concepts around. Since they were bought by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010 huge investments have been made all around to make Volvo one of the greatest premium car brands of the world.
Don't be fooled by a hypothetical pre-conceived notion of a quality decrease in construction or material since Geely is Chinese. From 2010 onwards brand loyalty and perceived quality have never been so strong for Volvo which can easily be ascribed not only to a brand new approach to car design, top-down since they started with the XC90, but also to advertising. And it is safe to say that Volvo has some of the best car ads I've ever seen. Besides storytelling and putting Sweden on a stage, music plays a huge role in this brand's ads. Volvo clearly chooses underrated artists which surprisingly turn their ads' scripts and photography into true masterpieces.
Here are three examples:
Music by LOWTUS, Ronia - New Motion
Music by Viola Martinsson - Made Of
Music by Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up
The need of joining the right music to the right brand is paramount. It must convey the right message (we're talking about lyrics and the artists positioning of course), the rhythm of both the song and the ad must be in sync and the shots and the beat of the song should be parallel to enable a certain tempo. Besides music can deliver an emotional connection with consumers and has the ability to create a personal relationship with the brand. At the end of the day, it can easily establish, maintain and even grow the equity of a given brand. And in the last couple of years, Volvo has been showing that it masters the relationship between these two vertexes like nobody else. To the point you can say: for Volvo it's all about the treble, the scale's sharp high-end section, leaving the common bass behind. Differentiation, innovation. Always one step ahead.
Last but not least
But there is one question that's always been on my mind: do they choose/write the music before they come up with the ads' script? Or is it the other way around? I guess I'll find out when they hire me for their Marketing Division. One day, someday.