Das Marketing.
Having visited Australia recently and currently watching this exciting NFL season in the United States unfold, it was interesting to see TV commercials of Volkswagen in both markets.
Automobiles are deeply connected in American and Australian cultures. Also, both markets take pride in products that are manufactured locally.
Interesting then, that Volkswagen proudly waves the German flag in their advertising, using simply Das Auto - The Car - as their slogan in their English speaking advertising.
In an curious twist in strategy, Volkswagen marketing seems to have decided to go against populist positions in their branding, preferring instead to appeal to underlining paradigms in the markets psychology.
Rattling off stereotypes of countries has its advantages, and some companies are cashing in on them. Just the way you market your self-made gelato as an original Italian recipe, how great technical equipment ist trusted when it's Japanese and great engineering expected in Germany.
Of course, 'German quality' is not a marketed myth. Still, it is worth a debate that the gap has closed and most German engineering giants are profiting from their experience and their historic appeal.
At the latest, ever since everyone on Dallas drove German sports cars, and Janis Joplin wanted one more than anything else, it is enough to say you have a German sports car in order for your peers to understand and respect you.
Pure mythology, what an effective lever to have in a shark tank of a market!
The interesting point, of course, is that on their home field, German cars are marketed differently than overseas.
Other factors in the markets buying decision are being appealed to.
So what do we learn from this? Sometimes, the answer to a successful marketing strategy is blatantly obvious. Sometimes, it just pays to be yourself.
Or at least something others trust you are.