Evoking 'Think Small' Urged as Primary VW Message Post-Crisis
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- Living `with the legacy of being a brand that has cheated'
Customers browse used cars inside the Volkswagen AG automobile showroom in Berlin, Germany, on Aug. 6, 2015.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergIn the 1950s and ’60s, when bigger meant better in American consumer culture, Volkswagen built its brand with ads that poked gentle fun at its diminutive vehicles. One early campaign featured a tiny Beetle perched in the corner of an empty page over the words “Think Small.’’ Others bore taglines like, “And if you run out of gas, it’s easy to push,’’ or “It makes your house look bigger.’’
Following revelations the company rigged emissions tests for millions of its diesel engines, Volkswagen should use simple ads that hark back to those early days to rehabilitate its tarnished image, marketing and crisis-communications professionals say.