Volvo FM Electric, from the campaign to the Anfavea meeting

As a Corporate Communication intern at Volvo Group Latin America, I formed a two-person team with Marco Greiffo, Head of Corporate Communication for Latin America. In this team, I supported the positioning campaign for the Volvo FM Electric, Volvo's first electric heavy truck in Brazil. Throughout the year, we prepared the materials so that the positioning would be ready when the truck was approved for sale. I followed the production of the image bank, videos and brand materials, and supported the press releases and the recording of the leadership's talking points on the vehicle's place in the market.

On June 14, 2023, Volvo took the FM Electric to the "Driving the Future of Electrification in Brazil" meeting held by Anfavea, the Brazilian vehicle manufacturers' association, at the Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center in Brasília. I wrote the briefs for the agency that created the booth and coordinated information between communication, engineering, product and suppliers. I assisted throughout the truck's positioning at the booth and in the prior training of the electrification specialists and directors who represented the company before authorities, executives from the main automakers and the press.

Corporate and institutional communication in a setting with government and an industry association, brand positioning on a regulatory agenda, spokesperson preparation, content production for the press and adaptation of a global headquarters' communication to the Brazilian context.

Volvo arrived at the country's largest meeting on electric mobility, according to Anfavea, with the truck on display, the message aligned and the spokespeople prepared. The event brought together 40 electrified vehicles from Anfavea's member companies, opened by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, and closed by the Vice President of Brazil, Geraldo Alckmin. The campaign left the image bank, the press releases and the videos with the leadership's talking points ready for the truck's announcement in the Brazilian market.

In 2023, the FM Electric was running in tests in Brazil and was not yet approved for sale. Volvo needed to take a position in favor of electrifying heavy vehicles before it could sell them, and the Anfavea meeting, with government and automakers in the same place, was the moment for that. My role was to help the Head run the campaign on two fronts at once, the truck's testing schedule and the preparation of everything the brand would say in Brasília and at the announcement. In December 2023, after my internship had ended, Volvo closed the first heavy electric truck deal in the country, with five FM Electric trucks leased to Reiter Log.

I take from this experience the idea that corporate communication prepares the ground before the product. On a regulatory agenda, every spokesperson needs to say the same thing with confidence before ministers, competitors and journalists, and that is built months before the event.