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The ongoing catastrophe surrounding Volkswagen has generated acres of commentary from various angles. In these situations professional interest dictates that one should have at least a cursory glance at what has been said about the crisis from a comms and marketing perspective.
Lots has been written about trust in big business, the importance of transparency in communications and more. Generally the attitude seems to be that VW’s comms investment has gone out the window, as failures in its core business operations have cut through the comms. An interesting piece in Adweek from September commented on how Volkswagen “just squandered 55 years of great advertising.”
Leave aside for a second the solipsism of the view (the wasted investment on adspace is probably not the highest priority for VW execs right now). The argument gets it completely the wrong way round. It is precisely because VW has invested heavily in communicating its brand and reputation for decades that it might survive this catastrophe. Simply put there is a lot of latent positive sentiment for Volkswagen out there, because over a long period of time they have invested heavily in encouraging people to see them positively.
Yes, VW’s advertising has served a primary function of selling cars and taking market share. But it has also represented an investment in mitigating future risks, helping them to ride out a future unknown crisis (now present, and all too known).
Volkswagen’s ability to hold out against the storm at present has lessons for public affairs consultants and buyers. Public affairs objectives should rarely be solely about securing a short term win, but on building reputation. All activity is an investment in mitigating unknown future risks, by building a strong and positive reputation amongst decision-makers. Those businesses that get it right will succeed whatever is thrown at them.
For all the industry commentary about the VW crisis and what it means for PR, marketing and communications, what it really shows is that investing in comms works.