Just saying 'Volvo' is enough, says car giant as it rejects worldwide taglines
In the months since Chinese automaker Geely bought Volvo, a lot of thinking has being going on - and here are the answers
"I don't think it makes sense to run the same thing in every market and ignore the cultural differences," he said. In fact he is heavily leaning toward not having any taglines. "I think just saying 'Volvo' is enough, and will be more effective than trying to get complicated with different lines, or running the same line worldwide and hoping that it works."
When Mr Jacoby was appointed by Chinese automaker Geely, who had just bought Volvo from Ford for $1.8 billion, he launched an intensive brand audit .
"I must have got 20,000 different opinions about what Volvo is." And that was the problem!
The solution for Volvo, so far, is to emphasise its safety heritage, bring more simplicity into its design, push further into the luxury bracket and - and in the light of his remarks- most likely, do without an advertising tagline.
Volvo won't adopt a single global marketing strategy - or change its agency. The audit which gave rise to these decisions was conducted byTeam Volvo, formed last autumn from Havas agencies Arnold and Euro RSCG based in Amsterdam and tasked with coordinating global advertising from Boston to Beijing.
A consultant on the audit was Richard Monturo, executive director of Miami and Buenos Aires agency La Communidad; he was named global marketing chief last month.
Mr. Jacoby said Volvo must also "blaze a new trail of safety" when it comes to onboard electronics and communications.
"My 18-month-old son can navigate using an iPad," Mr. Jacoby said. "I think Volvo can, and should, become the model for such simplicity and ease of use, which will, of course, translate to safety in a new way."
He believes Volvo must stand for luxury globally, and will push products, features and designs that can compete head to head with BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
"We are going to embrace true Scandinavian design aesthetics when it comes to colors, materials and design, and our communications will reflect that as well," Mr. Jacoby said.
Volvo has said it plans to more than double sales from 373,000 worldwide last year to 800,000 by 2020, with half of that expected to come from China.