Seeing no real opposition to the idea in another thread, on 3/25 I sent the following email to two Corporate Communications Officers for VW Group in Germany (my apologies to those 20-something folks in the Club):
Hello Dirk and Hans,
As diesel fuel quality increases in North America, the Volkswagen brand will be in an ideal position to sell a large number of TDI powered vehicles. As fuel prices rise, sales potential will climb even further. We want to aid your success in this emerging and dynamic market by proposing a marketing opportunity.
As a group of extremely loyal and enthusiastic owners of TDI vehicles in Canada and the USA, we will get together for TDI Fest 2004 in Boston. We have been around for 7 years and want to help VW combat the "anti-diesel" image that needs to be changed to pave the way for increased sales. With this in mind, we would like to invite VWAG to attend our TDI Fest to draw more attention to VW's leadership in fuel efficient vehicles and boost the VW TDI strategy for North America and the world.
We are primarily professional men and women in our late 30's and early 40's who have met each other through a common interest in the VW TDI. We enjoy cooking on the barbeque, good beer, discussing and engaging in diesel motorsports, and also hold contests to see who can get the farthest on the least amount of fuel. We are http://www.tdiclub.com and we want to work with you to help sell the vision here.
As communications leaders at the VW group, we felt you were the right people to contact. Please let me know how we can help.
Very Respectfully,
Karl Von Betzel
(Just kidding, I was respectful and used my name)
==============================
Several days later, I got the following in my inbox from a guy at VWOA, so I think I made the cut to at least get a response, which was more than I expected. I can only hope the email was more widely circulated than three guys, but who knows.
=============================
Subject: "This is fantastic"
Dear Mr. [Betzel],
I am the Press Relations manager for the U.S. and I have received the news about your TDI meeting. We are very pleased to hear about your passion regarding our TDI engines. As you know, this year we are also launching the new TDI-PD with unit injector technology. This technology will know come in the Passat sedan and wagon this month and the Touareg V10.
All of us at Volkswagen wish you the very best at your event. Please feel free to write back and tell us more about this unique gathering.
Best regards,
Tony Fouladpour
PR Manager
===================
OK
So, he does not yet say he wants to join in, did not mention if he would be bringing any schweet Reinheitsgebot compliant bier (I could use a dopple bock, rauchbier or a nice cool hefeweizen myself), did not [yet] offer to bring over any famous TDI-R variants to show off or demo anything hot off the production line or indicate that he wanted to work with us to promote the TDI as an incredibly sporty, yet economical car to drive, but he did write back...
Have I offended anyone (hope not) and how shall I respond?
Remember, they are a large multinational with stockholders that want to see profitable results, but we may have a common interest at some level. What might that be?
Anyone?
Hello Dirk and Hans,
As diesel fuel quality increases in North America, the Volkswagen brand will be in an ideal position to sell a large number of TDI powered vehicles. As fuel prices rise, sales potential will climb even further. We want to aid your success in this emerging and dynamic market by proposing a marketing opportunity.
As a group of extremely loyal and enthusiastic owners of TDI vehicles in Canada and the USA, we will get together for TDI Fest 2004 in Boston. We have been around for 7 years and want to help VW combat the "anti-diesel" image that needs to be changed to pave the way for increased sales. With this in mind, we would like to invite VWAG to attend our TDI Fest to draw more attention to VW's leadership in fuel efficient vehicles and boost the VW TDI strategy for North America and the world.
We are primarily professional men and women in our late 30's and early 40's who have met each other through a common interest in the VW TDI. We enjoy cooking on the barbeque, good beer, discussing and engaging in diesel motorsports, and also hold contests to see who can get the farthest on the least amount of fuel. We are http://www.tdiclub.com and we want to work with you to help sell the vision here.
As communications leaders at the VW group, we felt you were the right people to contact. Please let me know how we can help.
Very Respectfully,
Karl Von Betzel
(Just kidding, I was respectful and used my name)
==============================
Several days later, I got the following in my inbox from a guy at VWOA, so I think I made the cut to at least get a response, which was more than I expected. I can only hope the email was more widely circulated than three guys, but who knows.
=============================
Subject: "This is fantastic"
Dear Mr. [Betzel],
I am the Press Relations manager for the U.S. and I have received the news about your TDI meeting. We are very pleased to hear about your passion regarding our TDI engines. As you know, this year we are also launching the new TDI-PD with unit injector technology. This technology will know come in the Passat sedan and wagon this month and the Touareg V10.
All of us at Volkswagen wish you the very best at your event. Please feel free to write back and tell us more about this unique gathering.
Best regards,
Tony Fouladpour
PR Manager
===================
OK
So, he does not yet say he wants to join in, did not mention if he would be bringing any schweet Reinheitsgebot compliant bier (I could use a dopple bock, rauchbier or a nice cool hefeweizen myself), did not [yet] offer to bring over any famous TDI-R variants to show off or demo anything hot off the production line or indicate that he wanted to work with us to promote the TDI as an incredibly sporty, yet economical car to drive, but he did write back...
Have I offended anyone (hope not) and how shall I respond?
Remember, they are a large multinational with stockholders that want to see profitable results, but we may have a common interest at some level. What might that be?
Anyone?