Page 4 - HUB-4 Magazine Issue 77

Rokbak feature story
Jumping forward to the AED show in January 2022 – just over four months after the launch – and everything had changed. “That was a real highlight for us,” says Jacqueline. “Dealers were approaching us excitedly to represent Rokbak. For them to come to us and be so positive was a massive endorsement.”
Existing dealers had expressed similar sentiments right from the September 2021 brand launch, which produced lots of positive coverage in both the construction press and on social media. Pride and engagement rocketed back home in Motherwell, Scotland, too. “I think legacy problems had left some of our team feeling a bit flat,” explains Jacqueline. “One of the sales team hadn’t been 100% convinced on the rebrand but, after we launched, he could barely contain his excitement about all the emails and calls he was getting. He said, ‘I feel so proud standing behind the product!’ – that was amazing for me to hear. Another highlight was the positive feedback we received from dealers, customers, visitors and other manufacturers at Hillhead – everyone was saying that our haulers were the best-looking pieces of equipment on site!”
It’s what’s on the inside that counts too
Of course, it takes much more than a new look to achieve this level of success. The rebrand followed huge investments and technological improvements after Volvo Construction Equipment’s (Volvo CE’s) acquisition in 2014.
In fact, reviving a Volvo Group legacy brand, or joining another brand’s portfolio, was an initial consideration when it came to renaming the company. But ultimately it was decided to use a new name, with something that would reflect the legacy of both companies being the initial angle. “We thought about our heritage, Volvo’s core values and reflecting what we stand for,” continues Jacqueline. “We came up with 250 potential names, many from Scottish Gaelic and Scandinavian sources to reflect our roots. We narrowed that down to 52 words, and then got a historian involved to provide more detail on each word before it came down to 12 and then the final five.
“We put an image board behind each name to see how we could make them work – for instance, SKOT, reflecting both the Scottish and Scandinavian elements, was all about black stallions. But there’s a company with a similar name, so we decided against it. Then there was STARK, like in the Iron Man films – that would have changed perceptions, but wouldn’t be ideal for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes and, as an English word, it obviously has a meaning behind it.”
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www.hub-4.com Nov/December 22 - Issue 77