BERLIN. — When pitching products abroad, German companies have been keen to stress where they come from. Volkswagen AG has been wooing American customers with its catchphrase “That’s the power of German engineering,” an example of how German companies have been using the strong reputation of the “Made in Germany” label in their marketing campaigns.
“Made in Germany stands for exactness, precision, reliability and trust,” said Miles Young, chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather, one of WPP PLC’s largest ad agencies. “The brand is extremely strong.”
But the revelation that Volkswagen cheated on emissions tests to make diesel cars appear cleaner than they actually are has hit right in the heart of this image, triggering marketers to wonder: will pushing the German brand still work?
“When the news broke, some marketing executives were crushed ,” said Horst Wagner, chief executive of Germany agency Publicis Pixelpark, owned by Publicis Groupe SA, which works for clients including Renault SA and BMW AG.
“No one is changing anything but everyone is watching how things unfold.
“I think advertisers will take a break from pro-German ads, at least until the smoke clears,” said Denis Gancel, chief executive of Havas SA ’s ad agency W&Cie, whose studies have ranked Germany among the most powerful national brands.
Carmakers in particular have played on German origin as a marketing virtue. Volkswagen let German engineers grow angel wings in a recent Super Bowl commercial.
Audi AG, owned by the Volkswagen group, told US customers “It’s time for German engineering.” And General Motor’s Opel a few years ago even featured a tall blond German-speaking car-seller in a TV commercial in France advocating all the German qualities of the new corsa model. The spot was so successful it triggered French rival Renault to respond with its own parody with a Frenchman imitating his German rival but promoting “Renault: quality, the French version.”
Products beyond cars have used the promise of German quality as a selling point.
Manufacturing giant Robert Bosch GmbH has used sell-lines such as “Typically German” in Italy and “We’re German, we’re proud of our machines” in India. Alpecin, an anti-hair loss shampoo developed by German firm Dr Kurt Wolff, promised UK customers “German engineering for your hair.”
Few expect the power of the label to diminish in the long run.
German chancellor Angela Merkel reassured industry leaders on Tuesday that the Made in Germany brand hadn’t suffered from the Volkswagen crisis, and so far German brands are showing no signs of turning away from German branding.
Siemens AG is set to launch a new global campaign at the start of next year that stresses the qualities of German engineering amongst other features, according to people familiar with the matter.
“This isn’t a crisis for Germanness,” said Mr Young. “But it’s a watch out. If the VW scandal isn’t handled well, it could create slight damage.”
Volkswagen, in the meantime, has its hands full dealing with the crisis. The company stopped advertisements for its diesel cars in the US and plans to advertise again only when the affected cars are again available for sale, said a company spokeswoman. —WSJ.