Working with Volvo

I've been privileged to work with the Volvo Group for over twenty years: chiefly with Volvo Construction Equipment, but also with Volvo Financial Services, Volvo Trucks and Volvo Penta.

I started out working with the Volvo Construction Equipment GB dealership on advertising, exhibition design and sales brochures, but as time has passed I now work mainly with Sales Region EMEA in Eskilstuna and Global in Brussels.  Much of the work I'm asked to get involved in tends to be internal communications. I am used to working with senior management on confidential materials for internal presentation, often under tight deadlines over weekends – indeed, this is the kind of work I most enjoy.

I have been involved in everything from defining and developing regional brand identity guidelines to preparing quarterly email newsletters within a tight deadline. Copywriting and editing is an important part of the service I offer, as English is the global language used by Volvo. This means writing in an English that can be easily understood by anybody with English as a second (third or fourth) language; yet still retaining a level of sophistication that native English speakers expect.

Photographic retouching is equally important, as many of the images that we use have been shot under some fairly extreme conditions, not always with ideal lighting – as you can imagine. 

Although I do travel to meetings and assignments, most of the work these days is done over the internet. Virtual meetings mean that I can work on my screen and share the visuals directly with my clients while we discuss and edit in real time.

It would be impossible to list everything that I have helped Volvo with over the years, but here is a brief resumé and a couple of typical examples...

• Aftersales Growth Initiatives (development and subsequent rollout)

• Volvo Ocean Days

• Volvo Days

• Volvo On Tour

• Genuine Volvo Parts

• Volvo Masters (Service Technicians)

• Internal Marketing newsletters for Region EMEA (ExactTarget)

• Internal Marketing Plan for Region EMEA (PowerPoint)

• Dealer Operating Standard (development)

• CHAIN User Manual

• Volvo ActiveCare (development and subsequent rollout)

• Product literature

• The Blue Book (development and some subsequent editions)

• Operators Club (development and subsequent competitions)

• Volvo Services (development and subsequent rollout)

• Brand guidelines for Region EMEA (development based on Global guidelines)

• Region EMEA vehicle liveries

• Volvo Used Equipment branding and information graphics

• CareTrack concept development and graphics

• Region EMEA SDLG launch

• SDLG brand guidelines for Region EMEA (development and subsequent rollout)

• SDLG advertising: press and digital

• SDLG product literature development

The Dealer Operating Standard is the “bible” used to ensure a dealership is running to the standards and processes expected. For this first edition, I acted as an editor, copywriter and typographer, taking inputs from different authors and applying a consistency of style and language to bring the 128 page document together. 

Marble quarrying brochure Working with the photographer and within brand guidelines, my job was to optimise the imagery provided with digital retouching, create the layouts, and combine and edit the copy – from more than one source – to flow smoothly and read better.