Branding Primitive campaign?

Branding OPINION on VOLKSWAGEN
Marc Babej has a pretty interesting interview with author, Douglas Rushkoff, over at Being Reasonable. When asked what, in his opinion, is wrong with advertising, Rushkoff offered Volkswagen as a prime example.

"Hiring a new ad agency is not going to save VW. The problem is not that they are off brand message, or that their ads are wrong. The problem is that VWs are no longer VWs! VW products communicated an authentic simplicity - a minimalism, a Bauhaus economy of material. Now they have cushy seats and lots of plastic - just like other cars. VW also offers a big SUV and the Phaeton, a luxury sedan. The Phaeton has been such a dismal failure that VW has pulled it off the U.S. market. Mini came in and ate their lunch by making cars more essentially VW than the current crop of VW’s. So what does VW do? Hire Mini’s ad agency!"

In Volkswagen's case, sure. No argument on this end. VW has indeed turned its back on its heritage and Mini has been only too happy to pick it out from VW's corporate dumpster.

But with all due respect to Rushkoff's premise that companies have gotten so swept up in branding that they've taken their eye off the ball in terms of their own products, well, what about it? Rightly or wrongly, there are an awful lot of companies out there right now that are skating along just fine on nothing more than a wing and an image.

That sucks for the consumer. And in the long run, it might well suck for the company. But it is what it is. The power of branding has never been more powerful. And with the proliferation of more and more new ways of projecting that power, the problem of style over substance isn't going away any time soon.

November 28, 2005 in Slants | Permalink
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Comments

Ernie, you read KNOCK THE HUSTLE... Doesn't this sound like my Mercedes experiences?

Posted by: hadji | November 28, 2005 at 08:12 PM

Actually, Hadji, I have not yet had a chance to read KTH. Looking forward to it over the holidays. Similar experience with Mercedes?

Posted by: ernie schenck | November 29, 2005 at 10:56 AM

The author's main argument is that VW has turned its back on its heritage. I think that they've simply turned their back on their core consumer -- People with not a lot of money, who want an inexpensive car. I used to own a VW. Now I own an Audi. I grew up. But it seems now, VW has grown up, too. I bought a well-equipped Jetta in 1996 for 17K out the door. Now, you can't get one for anywhere near that. And if you do, it looks like "a cheap Jetta" in comparison to the loaded up version. VW used to make cars that looked essentially the same across the trim spectrum. Not true anymore. VW used to make cars that had great prices and offered a much cooler car than the competition. But now, they make mini-Audis, without a mini price. But something that can't be overlooked is that my Jetta was a complete piece of shit. As was my sister's. As was my roommate's from freshman year. VWs sucked. For a long time. Despite what Bernbach would have had us think. Their quality is poor. Until now. So now they make better, more expensive cars and they're losing ground.

They've just forgotten who their customers are. If someone can afford an Audi, they won't buy a VW. I didn't.

Posted by: Ronan Doyle | November 29, 2005 at 06:21 PM

Posted by Reqiya=me on May 24, 2006.....

The problem is that they didn't learn Psychology....
Most of branding campaign use only unsystematic unproven primitive theories to direct their actions;
for instance, who is their target market? their end user consumer?
What about the design engineer?
or Authorized dealer? or even their front line sales personeel?
Each of them has their own groupthink that is no way identical than the ad master think...
Try GESTALT psychology approach instead....