Volkswagen Double Scandals Expose Weakness of Brands

Publications may loose their advertising budget while covering the scandal

As if Volkswagen hadn’t had enough problems already from their emissions scandal, now some in the French media are reporting that Volkswagen has threaten publications with withdrawing advertising if they continue featuring articles covering the negative effects of the scandal. A spokesperson from Volkswagen has denied these accusations saying that ad reductions are due to a decision to reduce advertising to avoid links between news about the scandal and their brand messaging.
From a brand perspective, this entire situation exposes several very important and inherent  weaknesses for traditional brands, branding and brand advertising.
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Is Volkswagen just the Tip of the Iceberg ? Will other Brands Follow ?

Consumers, though, are demanding to be heard and not just from some data collector or survey but from direct communications with the brands which is very difficult currently as they are not accessible or they just do not want to answer.  Consumers are increasingly looking for authenticity, integrity and transparency from brands but their concerns and questions don’t seem to be part of the current one-directional brand messaging model.
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Each time a major scandal like Volkswagen occurs, there is damage not just for that particular brand, but for ALL brands, with an increasing number of consumers coming to realize that brand trust needs to be earned and not just blindly accepted. How can Volkswagen expect consumers will eventually trust what they are telling them in the future, especially now with the explosive use of social media? How effective can space advertising be in gaining or regaining and keeping consumer trust for any brand?  Because without that trust, the old, tradition brand model may be in danger of crumbling down like a house of cards.

The New Luxury Code is a Code of Respect. If brands follow the New Luxury Code, they will be proud to be New Luxury and have nothing to hide and nothing to be scared of in a world of consumers asking full transparency and a world of media sharing information worldwide.

​The old, traditional brand model followed by most “legacy” brands has been to use traditional space and TV advertising to keep positive brand messages flowing one-directionally and uninterrupted to consumers. This strategy, which involves billions of dollars and careful co-ordination between brands, brand managers, advertising agencies and print and TV media content and advertising, worked exceptionally well as long as consumers were kept in the dark and didn’t ask too many difficult questions to the brands.
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