How Volkswagen’s name-change gambit played online
The company renamed its U.S. operations ‘Voltswagen’ to tout its hybrid and electric vehicle manufacturing plans. Does the stunt have more legs than similar efforts, such as IHOPs ‘IHOB’ ploy?
When the International House of Pancakes changed its name to “IHOB” to highlight its new line of burgers, many rolled their eyes. The stunt so irked some in the PR community that the effort made our list of top crises for 2019.
As previously reported on PR Daily:
“I think many find IHOP’s brand campaigns fairly annoying and misguided,” says Michelle Garrett, PR consultant and writer with Garrett Public Relations.
“First, it was the IHOb campaign—then this year it announced it was giving the P in its name a new meaning. People immediately started tweeting about what the P could stand for. Vice said in its coverage, “PR, Pandering, Promotions, Pay Attention to Us, and Proof That We Have a Lot of Money In Our Marketing Budget.” And that’s the thing: If they clearly have this enormous marketing budget, wouldn’t it be better spent on something other than frivolous name change campaigns?”
Now Volkswagen is getting in on the name-change trend with a switch to “Voltswagen.”
https://twitter.com/VW/status/1376868756782219266
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