Evolution of Volvo, its Brand Logos and its Products

Volvo, one of the popular commercial vehicles company in the world, one of its products exist in the exclusive and luxurious automobile market. Volvo founded on 14 April 1927. Volvo itself as a word is a Latin word, means "I roll" or "I drive" in the modern era. Volvo has evolved from safety luxurious cars to luxurious cars that more stylish and elegant. When it was founded, Volvo like what its brand mean concentrated in the manufacturing of everything that rolls: ball bearings, roller bearings, machines, transmissions, automobiles, bicycles, rolling-stock, transportation devices, means of transport of all kinds and parts of and accessories for the aforementioned products. Things that realized are Volvo automobiles and other transportation devices. Volvo introduced its first car, the OV4, and its first brand logo that was an old ideogram for the Roman God of War, Mars, and also an ancient symbol for iron to create associations between the Swedish iron industry: steel and strength and properties such as safety, quality and durability.

At the 1940s till 1970s Volvo tried to exist in the North American market. First Volvo tried to resemble famous American cars such as Volvo Carioca that resembled Chrysler Airflow in the mid of 1930s, then PV444 that launched in the mid of 1940s that resembled Fords and Mercurys. Volvo then tried to launch its sports car because Volvo understood the importance and tastes of the North American market . Volvo's second sports car, the P1800, made awareness of Volvo in the North American market increase higher. Volvo also invented the three point seatbelt. Volvo also involved in the rally championship in 60s and 70s and won the championship with its car, Volvo 850T.


In 2005, Volvo rejuvenated its brand logo, by adding some stylish and elegant aspect, but still maintaining its core aspects: old chemical symbols for iron and arrow that comes out of it. I think Volvo tried to harmonize itself with the trends, because in the 21st century customers prefer to choose anything stylish, trendy, elegant, and etc. In the 21st century Volvo also launched stylish and elegant products, such as XC60.
Nowadays world concerns with the environmental issues such as global warming, climate change, and etc. Volvo seems to follow up this trend by sponsoring many Burton snowboard championships. Volvo tried to rejuvenate its brand image as not only safe (because Burton snowboard is well known for its safety standard) but also environmental friendly, because Burton championships don't pollute environment like rally championships. Volvo also launches environmental-friendly products, one of its products is this Volvo truck.

iPhone vs Blackberry in Indonesia (1)

Blackberry has been a booming trend in Indonesia lately. That device is becoming more popular and more people buy it. Blackberry was introduced several years ago but the booming trend of it was started few months ago (or was it a year or two years ago? i forget the details). In the contrary iPhone was introduced by one of the biggest providers in Indonesia (Telkomsel) in 23rd March 2009. Those two devices are predicted to have tough competition amongst them. Let's analyze product specification, pricing strategy, and bundled services of those two products in Indonesia. In this first part let's analyze specification of each those products (Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry Bold 9000).
Size and weights: iPhone is narrower (2.4" vs 2.6"), longer(4.5" vs 4.48"), thinner (0.48" vs 0.59"), and slimmer than Bold (4.7 oz vs 4.8 oz).
Navigation: iPhone applies touch screen while Bold applies trackball and QWERTY keyboard
Display: iPhone's screen (3.5" screen) is larger than Bold's screen.
Features: iPhone 3G offers 3G support, GPS, camera 2.0 MP, push email (mobileMe & Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync), desktop class web browser, built-in accelerometer so that iPhone can respond in it's user motion, and widescreen iPod. Bold offers those features too plus video recording and corporate data access (i dont know for sure what this feature is, if this feature is about sending data through push email then i think this feature is offered by iPhone too).
Battery: iPhone's standby time is 300 hours (approx. 12.5 days), while Bold's standby time is 13 days.
Capacity: iPhone offers 8GB or 16GB flash drive while Bold offers 1GB with expandable memory supports for microSD card.
Security: Bold offers more security features than iPhone.
Network: iPhone applies these networks: UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, while Bold only applies networks: Wi-Fi, GSM, and UMTS.
From those product specification comparison, it seems that Blackberry position itself as secure mobile phone for corporate customers, while iPhone 3G position itself as stylish 3 in 1 product that redefines what mobile phone can do-again.
Credit of this picture goes to iPhone Blog (http://media.shinyplastic.com/prodimg/blackberry-bold-iphone-comparison.jpg).

What is 7P ?

4P is not enough, because nowadays service or non-service products need to be treated in more complex ways and involve more men, more processes, and more creative ideas to be implemented nearby that product so that customers aware of it, would love to buy it, buy it often, and finally become loyal customers. Booms and Bitner added 3 additional mix to the Marketing Mix, that are: People, Process, and Physical Evidence. That 4P + 3 is called as 7P.
People: All men or women that are directly or indirectly involved in the consumption of a product and those people add significant value to the service or non-service product offering. The questions that needs to be addressed by marketers and other functions in the company are questions about who are the people that shall stand nearby the product to explain about the product's functionality? what kind of expertise that needs to be mastered by those people that stand nearby the product so that those people can influence customers to come by and finally become one of their loyal customers? is it needed to train those front people any additional knowledge or expertise? and etc.
Process: Mechanism by which the service or non-service products are consumed. The questions that are related with it are: how do customers find out the product? how they consume the product, are they consuming the product all at once or in few times (not all at once)? how frequent the product is consumed? and etc.
Physical Evidence: Nearby environment including all things in it that helps marketer or front salesman/salesgirl to communicate the product's features, to perform the service, and etc. Physical evidence is environment where the product meets potential and existing customers and that environment shall be able to relay the existing customer's satisfaction to potential customers so that they are willing to buy and consume the product. Layout and design of the environment add significant value to the perception of the customers. If the design of the nearby environment is luxurious then customers can start to perceive that products shown or sold there are expensive and exclusive products. If the cleanliness of an environment is preserved then customers can perceive that products that sold there are more clean and safe than products that sold in the vile traditional market.

What is 4P ?

4P that is popular as term Marketing Mix is a set of correlated that work together to achieve what marketer wants, that are the product is sold, customers need or want that product so much, the product sales is increase, and at the end the company enjoys profit. 4P consists of Product, Place, Promotion, and Price.
Product: What is the functionality of the product? What are the accessories of the product? How about if the product that customer bought is broken, is there any reparation and support? How is the package of the product? and many more questions that related with the attributes of the product that needs to be addressed by marketers together with other functions in the company.
Price: What kind of pricing strategy that will be used (skim, penetration, etc.)? Is there any discount for it? Is the discount for large volume buyers or for each retail buyers? Is the company going to suggest the retail price to the retailers or is the company giving retailers a chance to set the price themselves? and many more questions that related with how much the customers want to sacrifice to get the product are needs to be addressed by marketers together with other functions in the company such as finance department, operation department, and etc.
Place: What kind of distribution channels that suitable for the product? Is the product going to be sold in mass channels or in limited and private channels? How is the market coverage for each channels? Do the company needs to develop distribution centers that close to each private owned stores or other channels? and many more questions about where and how the product is placed nearby the customers that needs to be addressed by marketers and other functions in the company, e.g. distribution department.
Promotion: What kind of promotional strategy (push or pull) that suitable for the product? Do the product needs to be advertised in multimedia or just specific in a media? Do the product needs to be advertised for mass customers or just for specific targeted potential customers? Do the promotion for the product combined with IMC so that not only the product is sold but also the brand is becoming popular? and many more questions about how and when information about the product delivers to customers?