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Score 69 - On the Brink: Volkswagen hires CEO to fuel growth post-Dieselgate, focused on brand building, consumer trust

Volkswagen tapped a new American CEO to speed up their recovery post-Dieselgate. Scott Keogh will take over the role November 1 and incumbent Hinrich Woebcken will remain as an advisor. Keogh has served as Audi's CEO since 2012, and originally joined the luxury brand in 2006 as CMO. Prior to that, he worked at Mercedes-Benz for 12 years in various communications role and as head of the Smart brand.

Many people seem happy with the change since Keogh doubled Audi's sales in North America from 2010 to 2015 and made them a true competitor against other luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. However, Volkswagen isn't a luxury brand and appealing to affluent American's affinity for high-end German brands won't cut it. Plus, Volkswagen isn't as big as competitors like Toyota, Honda and Chevy, and they still have consumer worries from Dieselgate. The first thing Keogh will likely do is focus on winning back consumer trust.

But Keogh does have one advantage: Volkswagen has lots of SUVs on its roster, and electric car factory by 2022.

Given his marketing experience, he will likely have a large say in how these products are marketed, and I imagine he will focus on a strong brand story since Forbes cites him saying, "The magic of the VW ads... is the story they told collectively about why people should want to buy the brand, and also be a part of it." Also, expect a heavier reliance on digital and social since the company previously announced they would invest more highly in those channels.

To assist, there have been a few marketing hires.

They hired Megan O'Connor as digital operations leaders, effective June, following a 24-month tenure as lead consumer experience strategist at Health Alliance Plan. Prior to that, she was account supervisor at Leo Burnett. The majority of her experience lies in digital strategy and interactive marketing.

They tapped Neil Chhabra as digital marketing specialist, effective March, following a 5-month tenure as consultant at T. Rowe Price. Prior to that, he was content specialist team lead at Subject Matter. While at VW, he will develop digital content & experiences that support brand objectives; assist with an "always on" platform; manage digital and technology agency relationships; and, of course, assist with digital marketing.

Lastly, they tapped Sydney Alexander as brand & product marketing analyst, effective June. She has served as a marketing & communications intern at Actors Centre, as well as a marketing & events intern at the Chicago Blackhawks. Her expertise lies in social media and experiential.

So, agencies and martechs with automotive experience who can assist Keogh with brand building, building consumer trust and promoting SUVs & electric vehicles should go after work. However, remember Volkswagen is in the midst of a 13th certified digital media provider for the Volkswagen Dealer Digital Program.

Note that if you win work, you'll also likely be responsible for handling "Electrify America," a response to their $2 billion settlement after Dieselgate. The efforts will run through June 2019 through TV, radio and web, in August.

Sellers -- overall spend has decreased despite the shift to digital and social, but there is still plenty of revenue to secure and spend may even go up under the new CEO as he fuels growth. Therefore, sellers who can reach VW's male- and millennial-skewed audience should go after revenue. Spend typically spikes during Q2 and Q4, but is high year round. Also keep an eye on new products like the 2019 Volkswagen T-Cross (spring 2019) and the various electric cars in the works.

iSpot reports a YTD national TV spend of $245.6 million on male-focused sports programming (see targeting right). Spend for the same timeframe of 2017 was $195 million, full 2017 spend was $301.7 million and spend in 2016 totaled $324 million.

Pathmatics reports a YTD digital display spend of $1.6 million, a decrease from the $6.6 million spent in the same timeframe of 2017, a full 2017 spend of $7.2 million and a 2016 spend of $11.5 million. This year ads are placed primarily direct (97%) onto sites like youtube.com, nbcnews.com, ksl.com, cars.com and eonline.com. Last year ads were placed primarily direct (81%) onto sites like espn.com, youtube.com, amazon.com, kbb.com adn eonline.com.

From Q1 2017 to Q1 2018, search decreased from $1.3 million to $1 million, out-of-home decreased from $800,797 and $138,875, print decreased from $6 million to $589,845 and radio decreased from $54,027 to nothing. Respectively, the mediums totaled $5.1 million, $2 million, $18.1 million and $54,027 million in 2017 and $4.3 million, $2.2 million, $35.3 million and $1.9 million in 2016 (per Kantar).