Photo: Volkswagen
If you’re even in the slightest preoccupied with what’s going on in the automotive industry, then you certainly didn’t miss the s**t storm that kicked off on March 29. That was when the media went ablaze with big titles reading Volkswagen is going for a name change.
And by media, we don’t mean only second-hand news outlets, but the giants of the industry too, who quickly jumped into the water to catch the golden fishy that was Voltswagen.
To recap things a bit, this is how it all went down so far.
On March 29, Volkswagen's American branch let slip through a press release apparently published by mistake (and quickly taken down) that its U.S. operations name will be changed to Voltswagen, with a T instead of a K. The news was first published by CNBC and quickly spread online.
At that point, despite the original source and others treating this as the real deal, we were still unsure what that was all about. First, you don’t go changing the name of a decades-old brand on a whim, and secondly, April 1 was just around the corner, and we all know what that means.
But then, on March 30, a more detailed press release was published, this time saying it will not be only the American operations of the carmaker that will suffer a name change, but it will also mark the separation, at least in name, between VW’s ICE and electric cars.
At about the same time, some of the carmaker’s social media channels, especially the ones on Twitter, began changing the banners to display the new name (in the meantime, they got changed back).
Things were beginning to look serious. The April 1 issue was completely forgotten, and people were becoming convinced this was really happening. Some got angry, others rejoiced, and just a few were still convinced this is just a prank.
Today, March 31, that minority apparently won. The Wall Street Journal published a statement from a Volkswagen Germany rep saying more or less this was just a prank, meant to “get people talking about the ID.4.”
And now the s**t storm changed direction, and everybody seems to be focusing on whether what Volkswagen did was good or bad.
It was neither. It was simply brilliant. Using minor resources, betting it all on the media’s craving for the sensational, and going against expectations by letting this slip before April 1, Volkswagen pulled what will certainly be one of the greatest pranks of the year.
Sure, the initial story was not retracted on a publicly official level by Volkswagen (yet), so there will still be those that claim this could be true after all.
You’re wrong. There is absolutely no reason for Volkswagen to change the name of its American operations, a name that has been around here in the States, often at the top of the sales charts, since 1955.
There is also no reason for the carmaker’s electric vehicles to be named anything other than Volkswagen. After all, it is exactly this association that is hoped to carry the ID. family (see, there already is a sub-brand for electric cars at VW) to the heights of glory.
And no, this apparently-backfiring prank will not bring Volkswagen to its knees, as some claim, and it’s not even a “lesson in how not to do marketing,” as some of my own colleagues claim.
That is exactly how you do marketing. The whole idea behind the concept is to get people talking, and what do you know, that’s exactly what we’re doing for the past three days.
Maybe Volkswagen will use Voltswagen in the future for something—there is a VW UK Twitter account by that name set up in 2019 that talks about EV-related topics, so the base to build upon is there. Or maybe nothing will come of it.
But the reality remains: this was a simple prank, turned gigantic by the gullible media (ourselves included), that surely made Volkswagen the talk of the week.
Sorry. Voltswagen.
To recap things a bit, this is how it all went down so far.
On March 29, Volkswagen's American branch let slip through a press release apparently published by mistake (and quickly taken down) that its U.S. operations name will be changed to Voltswagen, with a T instead of a K. The news was first published by CNBC and quickly spread online.
At that point, despite the original source and others treating this as the real deal, we were still unsure what that was all about. First, you don’t go changing the name of a decades-old brand on a whim, and secondly, April 1 was just around the corner, and we all know what that means.
But then, on March 30, a more detailed press release was published, this time saying it will not be only the American operations of the carmaker that will suffer a name change, but it will also mark the separation, at least in name, between VW’s ICE and electric cars.
At about the same time, some of the carmaker’s social media channels, especially the ones on Twitter, began changing the banners to display the new name (in the meantime, they got changed back).
Things were beginning to look serious. The April 1 issue was completely forgotten, and people were becoming convinced this was really happening. Some got angry, others rejoiced, and just a few were still convinced this is just a prank.
Today, March 31, that minority apparently won. The Wall Street Journal published a statement from a Volkswagen Germany rep saying more or less this was just a prank, meant to “get people talking about the ID.4.”
And now the s**t storm changed direction, and everybody seems to be focusing on whether what Volkswagen did was good or bad.
It was neither. It was simply brilliant. Using minor resources, betting it all on the media’s craving for the sensational, and going against expectations by letting this slip before April 1, Volkswagen pulled what will certainly be one of the greatest pranks of the year.
Sure, the initial story was not retracted on a publicly official level by Volkswagen (yet), so there will still be those that claim this could be true after all.
You’re wrong. There is absolutely no reason for Volkswagen to change the name of its American operations, a name that has been around here in the States, often at the top of the sales charts, since 1955.
There is also no reason for the carmaker’s electric vehicles to be named anything other than Volkswagen. After all, it is exactly this association that is hoped to carry the ID. family (see, there already is a sub-brand for electric cars at VW) to the heights of glory.
And no, this apparently-backfiring prank will not bring Volkswagen to its knees, as some claim, and it’s not even a “lesson in how not to do marketing,” as some of my own colleagues claim.
That is exactly how you do marketing. The whole idea behind the concept is to get people talking, and what do you know, that’s exactly what we’re doing for the past three days.
Maybe Volkswagen will use Voltswagen in the future for something—there is a VW UK Twitter account by that name set up in 2019 that talks about EV-related topics, so the base to build upon is there. Or maybe nothing will come of it.
But the reality remains: this was a simple prank, turned gigantic by the gullible media (ourselves included), that surely made Volkswagen the talk of the week.
Sorry. Voltswagen.
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