Bad marketing strategies: Volkswagen and its evil software

1. Bad marketing strategies

The Bavarian giant was accused in September 2015 of very consciously manipulating its Volkswagen and Audi car lines.

This accusation came as a result of it being detected that they used "cheating" software (quite sophisticated) to approve environmental standards.

The titan of the German vehicle industry managed to alter these emissions results thanks to a small gadget it made, as follows:

• Reduce engine performance when their vehicles were subjected to tests of…. vehicle verification, to understand each other better.

When the device detected that it was undergoing such a test, it gave the signal to the engine so that its nitrogen oxide filter could be properly calibrated.

Bad marketing clearly.

Would you have done the same?

2. Example of bad marketing: Is anything fair in Capitalism?

Obviously, Volkswagen was going to backfire. It was obvious to everyone but them.

This software was used in cars that ran on diesel and this gave the opportunity for these vehicles to release up to 40 times more emissions than regulations allowed.

Generally, these types of decisions, at some point end up resonating beyond the offices where they were determined.

About 11 million cars of the brands:

• Volkswagen
• porsche
• Audi
• seat
• Skoda

They were affected by the scandal. One of the many stories of failure due to poor marketing management.

How to reverse a situation of this type?

Treachery and wholesale advantage.

3. Bad marketing strategies: Germany vs Environment

In contrast to other critical situations, the consequences of bad marketing were not long in coming.

They recalled nearly 9 million vehicles and stopped the sale of diesel cars to the United States.

In addition to this, they were stripped of the title of number one automobile manufacturer in the world.

How to deal with this loss of category?

Recovering from having committed a fraud like this could only be at the level of multi-million dollar, transnational companies of this type.

The management of, probably, its worst crisis in decades, on a financial level, was imperial, worthy of all possible studies.

Let's see it next :).

4. Consequences of misuse of marketing

Despite of fat wizard that exploded at the German titan for "cheating" in gas emission verification tests, Volkswagen began its recovery almost expeditiously.

After many corrective actions and taking careful care of what they declared, etc., in less than a year they were establishing themselves as the #1 manufacturer again.

However, how was it possible?

How did the vehicle manufacturing company #1 become after such a scandal?

Simply because they gave the public the guillotine blows of:

• Heinz-Jakob Neusser, executive in charge of presenting cars.
• Jens Handler, engine expert.
• Richard Dorenkamp, emissions specialist (ja).
• Bernd Gottweis, problem-fixing expert, known as the fireman. 
• Oliver Schmidt, liaison in the United States for environmental regulatory issues.
• Jurgen Peter, quality control.

Since large companies love to cut workforce rather than touch senior management, Volkswagen knew that much of the cleanup of its image involved cutting off the heads of those in charge of many bad marketing strategies.

This decision to execute those in charge of the scandal was very well received by the press and other actors indirectly involved in the great VW scandal.

5. Transnational companies: How is ethics measured?

This improbable stumble on the part of Volkswagen put the mark on all the ethical implications that were ignored and they stopped consciously supervising.

It has been shown through studies that nitrogen oxide (its gases, then) are capable of generating "smog" and are agents that form ozone at ground level, factors associated with adverse effects on the health of all of us.

Exposure to these types of chemicals:

• They can decrease lung function
• Increase respiratory conditions
• Bronchitis, among many other diseases

Where was the sustainability of this company?

Incredibly, before the scandal, Volkswagen was one of the companies with the best reputation for supporting the environment.

They never tired of filling their corporate offices with:

• Awards
• Recognitions
• Appointments
• Praise

For being a tremendously respectful and environmentally conscious company. It was all a facade. And a very good one.

6. Conclusion

Companies like Volkswagen can afford to commit this type of mistake at all levels and remain in the market as relevant as before.

What changed in the company?

They had to make personnel cuts that damaged the picture or that they represented a negative marketing for the company.

The task was not easy. The loss of customer confidence in them was evident, but prestige, no matter how weak it was, played a very important role in Volkswagen's recovery.

If you ask anyone who has even a basic idea or knowledge of cars, they will tell you that the best engineering "is German."

So who do you think they are referring to?

• BMW.
• Audi.
• Mercedes Benz.
• Volkswagen.
• Opel.
• Porsche.

With the first 3 brands we can get an idea of the engineering monsters we are dealing with.

They have their buyer persona so well defined that not even a single stroke of bad marketing against them could take them out of the market.

This tells us that the reputation of a business is built client by client.

Just as doctors build theirs patient by patient, Volkswagen has been attending to the needs of its customers for decades and despite this unfortunate episode, the Bavarian giant enjoys an even greater reputation, as if the scandal were a catalyst for them.

If your company is at VW's level, congratulations; but the investment in cleaning the image after such a tremendous bear is only at the level of the very, very large ones.

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