By Andreas Cremer

BERLIN: Scarred by a public relationsthrashing over its "Dieselgate" scandal Volkswagen is planningan image offensive and its "Das Auto" global advertising sloganis an early casualty.

Launched in 2007 under ousted boss Martin Winterkorn theslogan has had the advantage of simplicity merely meaning "TheCar". However the German carmaker's leaders anxious toproclaim a reformed corporate culture have criticised it as outof step with a company trying to show new-found humility.

A Volkswagen spokesman would not pronounce "DasAuto" dead quite yet but said it would no longer accompany thefamous VW badge in the coming advertising campaign.

Its replacement is hardly radical.

"Wherever our logo appears in future it will be backed bythe new brand slogan 'Volkswagen'" the spokesman said. "Theslogan will be rolled out in stages across the world."

VW has been largely on the defensive since U.S. authoritiesrevealed in September it had admitted rigging exhaust emissiontests on some diesel-powered models. For weeks it volunteeredlittle information about the extent of the cheating insteadreacting guardedly to a flood of revelations and allegations.

The new campaign discussed last week at a closed-doormeeting of 2000 group managers is VW's latest attempt toregain the initiative in rebuilding its reputation following asharp drop in sales in some markets including the United Statesand Britain.

While the group produces everything from Bugatti supercarsand Ducati motorbikes to heavy-duty Scania trucks the meetingin the eastern German city of Dresden focused on the main VWbrand.

According to a manager who was there Volkswagen brand chiefHerbert Diess described the Winterkorn-era slogan - which couldsuggest that VW alone can define the modern motor car - asabsolutist.

Such an image of regal arrogance ill fits the reality of VWtoday: a company facing huge costs from recalling and modifyingcars to meet emissions regulations plus likely regulatory finesand a welter of lawsuits.

Volkswagen needed to show humility the manager said andthe slogan 'Das Auto' was pretentious. The old slogan alsofailed to convey VW's technological ambitions in areas such aselectrically-powered vehicles the manager said requestinganonymity.

VW said the Dresden meeting discussed the task of leadingthe company through the crisis and its future strategy.

Diess is a relative newcomer to VW arriving from Bavarianrival BMW only in July. Since Winterkorn's forcedresignation on Sept. 23 the group has reshuffled its managementthrough internal promotions and external hires.

New chief executive Matthias Mueller formerly ran thegroup's Porsche sportscar unit while the compliance chief washired from rival Daimler.

VW tried to engender a new atmosphere at the annualpre-Christmas conference in Dresden last Thursday. For instancemale staff were encouraged to remove their ties - an unheard ofsuggestion in the buttoned-up Winterkorn era - and managers evenfolded shirts in a team-building exercise.

All this along with VW's first news conference on thescandal earlier this month suggests it is finally becoming alittle less defensive and trying to shape events from a publicrelations perspective rather than merely reacting to them.

Bad start

Group communications chief Hans-Gerd Bode acknowledgesfrustrations have built up while VW tries to establish who didwhat and when to deceive the U.S. authorities but he deniesdeliberate dishonesty in VW's communications.

"I can assure you that we certainly did not at any pointknowingly lie to you" he told a group of reporters. "We havealways tried to give you the information which corresponded tothe latest level of our own knowledge at the time."

VW's PR response in the first three months of the crisisdrew criticism from regulators customers and politicians. Therehave been several missteps.

On Sept. 22 the company dismissed as "nonsense" a Germanmedia report that Winterkorn would be replaced by Mueller. Thefollowing day Winterkorn resigned and Mueller was installed ashis successor on Sept. 25.

In November its luxury Audi division denied that itsthree-litre models had been fitted with illegal software onlyto admit three weeks later that in fact they had.

Three weeks into what has become known as 'Dieselgate' VWcommunications staff began insisting media questions besubmitted by email for consideration by teams that includedlawyers as well as compliance staff. Often answers came backhours later or even the following day.

More recently the flow of information has improved withMueller and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch updating reporters fortwo hours on Dec. 10 on the state of VW's internalinvestigations.

But it had taken VW almost three months to hold its firstfree-flowing news conference. Prior to that Mueller had largelystuck to reading out carefully worded statements departingwithout fielding questions.

Playing an advantage

One advantage of the long delay was that VW won time to comeup with a forward-looking plan that it could present at the newsconference rather than having to dwell on its past misconduct.

"The earlier you communicate the more backward-looking youhave to be" said Katja Nagel chief executive of Munich-basedcrisis communications consultancy Cetacea.

"To be able to look forward and talk about prevention ofsuch cases in the future - this is a strong position to be in.To do so you need time to substantiate your plans beforepublicly talking about them."

Sometimes haste can be counterproductive such as whenWinterkorn was forced out within a week of the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealing VW's admission.This left Mueller to pick up the pieces immediately rather thanhaving Winterkorn stay for a while to handle the fallout.

"They jumped on it a bit quickly by pushing Winterkorn outof the door so the scope for him to take the flak was limited"said Robert Haigh communications director at Brand Finance aLondon-based brand valuation consultancy.

In PR terms VW was on the backfoot from the outsetallowing the EPA to reveal its cheating putting others incharge of the message.

Only occasionally did it show initiative. On Nov. 3 - sixweeks after the first revelations - VW volunteered it haddiscovered carbon dioxide emissions and fuel usage of up to800000 cars sold in Europe had been overstated.

It was later able to say that only a much smaller number ofcars was affected and the cost could be relatively minor incontrast to the figure of at least 2 billion euros ($2.20billion) it had first estimated.

VW said the initial estimate of 800000 cars was a worstcase scenario and it was able to reduce the number of affectedvehicles following measurement checks.

This was a success under the rules of public relations; byinitially estimating the costs of a setback at a high level acompany can subsequently present a lower number as good news.

But PR industry experts gave VW low marks for announcingthat only a small group of employees had been responsible forthe cheating without naming them - suggesting it did not yetknow who they were.

VW has called in German PR firm Hering Schuppener as wellas Finsbury in Britain and Edelman and Kekst in the UnitedStates. But Bode made clear VW was still making the finaldecisions on crisis communications.

"What we also need is a view from outside. They areexcellent sparring partners for us" he said.

Reuters