Building a Community with DonV
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In the 22nd Episode of the GDMS Podcast, we discuss building an audience and online community with the host of DonV Fridays, DonV. We also discuss the following:
- Volkswagon April Fools Joke going wrong
- Volkswagon to Votlzwagon being a successful marketing campaign even with the bad publicity
- Marketing Minute with Matt on predictive and augmented analytics.
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In our in-depth interview with the host of DonV Fridays, DonV, we discuss:
- How DonV became a Virginia Tech Fan
- What his inspiration was for building his own podcast
- If he ever tried any other form of radio before he started his podcast
- What his transition from Youtuber to Podcaster was like
- How it was like building his first audience and how he attracted his listeners
- What it was like being the first Virginia Tech Youtuber and talking to a screen all by himself
- Why he went from being a solo host to having a cohost no
- Why he drops his Podcasts on Thursdays late in the evening instead of other days during the week
- How DonV has gone about building a loyal Twitter community fanbase
- His thoughts on the local Twitter VT Bracket competition and defeating TSL as an underdog
- Don’s thoughts on Virginia Tech’s upcoming season and expectations
- What his favorite A list and D list scary movies are
glorious marketing of the week
Volkswagen won’t be ‘Voltswagen’ after all: Misleading marketing is risky, especially for VW
Volkswagen's April Fools Campaign
On March 29th, Volkswagen started an April Fools prank as a marketing campaign. The marketing campaign was a successful one, as it generated massive brand awareness around their new electric-powered vehicles, but in the process ticked off Volkswagen enthusiasts and got them into some hot water with SEC.
Volkswagen to VoltzWagen
Volkswagen has set an aggressive goal of having the majority of their vehicles be electric by 2030.
In an effort to generate brand awareness revolving around their new green efforts, Volkswagen decided to elaborately pull an April’s fools joke, where they changed their name to Voltzwagen.
On March 29th, they teased the new name by changing social handles, building Voltzwagen websites, and releasing some really impressive advertising.
The release was initially and ultimately successful. Many people who did not know Volkswagen was pushing to go fully electric by 2030, are now fully aware that they are attempting to do so.
There was at first positive sentiment revolving around the name change, which led to their stock price rising. However, Volkswagen enthusiasts didn’t take too well to the name change.
The SEC is now getting involved, as they feel that Volkswagen manipulated its stocks even though it was an elaborate April Fools joke.
Ultimately, the campaign was a success even if there is some short-term backlash. The backlash could be a calculated risk that Volkswagen took, but either way, in 2 weeks people will have forgotten about the controversy, but they will still know Volkswagen is going all in electric vehicles.
DONV
DonV, host of DonV Fridays
