Volvo Moves Closer to the Consumer
To Volvo, cars are not engineered, nor built. They are brought to life. Volvo's Concept Lab is where it all begins.

Business Challenge
Intent on capturing a younger, Gen X customer base, Volvo Car Corporation needed to answer the question: Who exactly is the Gen X customer, and what are their needs, wants and desires today? To address the question, Volvo required more depth than their existing methods and information sources provided, so they turned to Iconoculture.

Approach
Iconoculture knew that in order for Volvo's brand to appeal to Gen X, Volvo's car designs needed to connect with the innate core values of the Gen X consumer. Insightful trend research and analysis led by Iconoculture highlighted five key macrotrends — a cluster of emerging and current trends that share common values — that characterize Gen X lifestyles.

Application
Outfitted with this knowledge and insight, the Volvo team gathered signs of the key macrotrends, using materials that visually represented Gen X lifestyle preferences. This visual representation of the five macrotrends brought life to the design process and dramatically influenced the final interior car designs specific to the Gen X consumer. Overall, Iconoculture’s approach allowed Volvo to ensure that brand values reflected in the final designs were relevant to the Gen X consumer.

Outcome
From idea to innovation, Volvo's entire approach was based on a mindset that enabled everyone involved to understand and incorporate Gen X core values into the concept and design process. The results:

• Using macrotrends to decode consumer values and gain insight was a key component of Volvo’s overall concept and design process
• The Concept and Design team created five car-interior prototypes according to different Gen X lifestyle values and passions
• Iconoculture's insight inspired new design angles and promotion and advertising ideas
• Timeframe of Volvo's overall concept and design process decreased