VW Set To Launch Global Creative Agency Review (& Unveils Plans For A New Logo, Too)

VW Set To Launch Global Creative Agency Review (& Unveils Plans For A New Logo, Too)

One of the world’s biggest advertisers, German carmaker Volkswagen, has announced it is launching a global creative agency review.

The brands’s CMO Jochen Sengpiehl outlined his vision for a more centralised agency model organised around regional hubs at a press briefing in Berlin yesterday.

VW’s creative is currently held by DDB in Australia who told B&T it was unaware of any review.

Spokesperson said: “DDB has a very close working relationship with Volkswagen both in Australia and globally. Any potential agency review would be an opportunity for us to strengthen our role as a worldwide partner for this amazing brand.”

The media is done by PHD globally, however, it is understood that it isn’t under review.

Sengpiehl wants to consolidate the account into big regional hubs covering Europe, China, North America, South America and the rest of the world, which would include Australia.

Volkswagen – whose brands include VW, Audi, Skoda and Porsche – are the planet’s sixth biggest advertiser with an annual spend close to $US7 billion ($A9 billion).

Among his many plans, Sengpiehl said he wanted to get better “efficiencies” out of its media spend. “We’ve spent far too much money on paid media in the past, and we want to change that,” Sengpiehl told German newspaper Horizont.

In other Volkswagen news, the car marker yesterday announced it would overhaul its famed logo as it prepares for the electric-car era. It’s also in response to the damage done to the brand following 2015’s infamous emissions cheating scandal.

Sengpiehl said the new logo would be unveiled some time in 2018 as the company rolls out a new fleet of electric vehicles to the global market.

In a sign of the times, Sengpiehl said the logo needed to be updated so it could work on car fronts as well as smartphone screens.

Interestingly, Sengpiehl said recent damage to the brand hadn’t just come from the emissions scandal but from the brand trying to be “too German”.

“The big challenge is: How do we get people into the electric world. We want people to have fun with us. We need to get more colorful,” Sengpiehl said.




Please login with linkedin to comment

DDB Volkswagen

Latest News

The Mars Agency Announces Latest Findings Of Retail Media Report Card
  • Advertising

The Mars Agency Announces Latest Findings Of Retail Media Report Card

The Mars Agency has developed a scorecard that assesses the capabilities of leading platforms across key criteria required to optimally plan, execute, and measure effective retail media programs. The scorecard aims To help brands efficiently evaluate their spending options across retail media networks in Australia (and New Zealand). With spending on retail media advertising in […]

TV Ratings (27/03/2024): Jungle Members At War Over Concealed Lipstick
  • TV Ratings

TV Ratings (27/03/2024): Jungle Members At War Over Concealed Lipstick

A heated argument between two jungle members did the numbers for Ten last night, with I’m A Celeb obtaining a total national reach of 1,282,000. Fans were delighted as Candice Warner and influencer Skye Wheatley got into it over a stick of lipstick, leading Warner to dub the Instagram star “selfish.” Wheatley, best known for […]