Case Study 2: Audi

‘In 2007, Audi increased its brand value by 17 per cent,’ says Rune Gustafson of Interbrand.

‘In 2007, Audi increased its brand value by 17 per cent,’ says Rune Gustafson of Interbrand. ‘They have been strong on demand creation and brand management, and single-minded about what they stand for.’

There is no doubt that Audi is doing well: pre-tax profits were up almost 50 per cent last year, the best earnings in the company’s history. Steve Fowler, group editor of What Car? magazine, says that Audi’s recent success is the fruit of a two-decade makeover. ‘Twenty years ago, Audi was what some people would describe as a sub-prestige brand, in with the likes of Volvo and Honda. Now they are very much on a par with BMW and Mercedes.’

The branding guru Wally Olins has written admiringly, for example, about the way in which Audi’s owner, Volkswagen, created a distinctive ‘deliberately understated, techno brand’ for the Audi marque that was seen as the inheritor of the Bauhaus design tradition in which form followed function – even though what was underneath the eye-catching body was a quite ordinary VW Golf substructure. ‘In today’s Audi, form doesn’t actually follow function at all – it just looks like it does.’

Fowler reckons that much of Audi’s success is down to its overall design philosophy, ‘not only in terms of the vehicles themselves, but also in terms of the Audi logo and the rather iconic Audi showrooms.’ For example, Audi has just built a huge new ‘Audi Centre’ overlooking the elevated section of the M4 in West London. ‘It’s a stylish building in a prime position,’ Fowler says.

Audi has polished its prestige in other ways, too. For example, the firm runs a chauffeuring service using a fleet of luxury A8 cars for the Bafta Film Awards, ballet performances, polo matches and other celebrity events. ‘This is often sneered at in the motor industry but that’s sheer jealousy,’ Fowler says. ‘BMW and Mercedes are now playing catch-up in this. It’s very clever management of the brand down to the finest detail.’

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