10 01 2011

VW ‘Good News’ Continues with New Car Introduction

Posted by: Tom Keefe, in communications, video

[Disclosure: I work for a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America]

To celebrate the official unveiling of Volkswagen’s newly design Passat, formerly referenced as the “New Midsize Sedan” (NMS), here is an interview by Ragan Communications CEO and Publisher Mark Ragan. Mark asked me about an internal publication I created for our Service Center employees in Chicago and Portland, Ore.

The “What’s Good at VW” publication highlighted the “good things” happening within the company at a time when competitors were filing for bankruptcy and government protection.

In this February 2009 interview, I talk about VW’s plans for the U.S. market—including the promise of a new car designed for the U.S. market, that would be built in a then under-construction $1 billion manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

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22 12 2010

Out with the old? Yes, please!

Posted by: Tom Keefe, in General

     Why throw out a perfectly good trophy from 1977?

One of my many responsibilities at VW Credit, Inc.’s Chicago Service Center is to place awards, customer letters and other similar items in a display case located in the main hall of our call center/operations office. It’s nice for employees and visitors to see the various ways that our company and its employees have been honored for achievements and thanked for charitable donations.

Today I had to explain why I wanted to remove some older items from the display case. Our facilities head was aghast. “What do you want to do with the stuff you take out of the display…toss it?” he asked. I thought he was going to have an episode when I replied that that was exactly what I planned to do.

“We should keep it to show people,” he said. “Don’t throw it away, give it to me and I’ll find a place to store it.” Awash in the holiday spirit, I agreed to pass along any awards that I remove in the future from the display case.

Don’t tell him that I already had tossed an award from a charity that acknowledged our donation in 2002. That award was proudly presented to “Volkswagon Credit Union,” which misspelled “Volkswagen” and mistakenly called us a credit union.

Does your company store its outdated awards, plaques and mounted correspondence, or dispose of it after an appropriate amount of time?

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