Non-linear stories drive brand-building at Volvo USA

Stephen Whiteside

Volvo USA, the automaker, has enjoyed clear benefits from adopting a "non-linear" storytelling approach in its advertising.

Volvo Car USA, a challenger brand in the American automotive category, believes that an atypical approach to storytelling can help it overtake many larger rivals in the marketing fastlane.

"We're a small brand," explained Bob Jacobs Head/Marketing, Communications and Product Strategy at Volvo Car USA. "We're a half-a-point brand in the US, so we do have to do things a little bit differently to stand out."

More specifically, he reported that the auto manufacturer – which sold 81,504 cars in the US in 2017, in a category where 17.2 million vehicle sales were recorded in all – determinedly has moved...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands