Last week I found myself in a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany.
For four days every four years, Hessisch Oldendorf becomes the centre of the vintage Volkswagen world.
Over 65,000 visitors from more than 60 countries. Around 900 registered classic Volkswagens.
Many, many air-cooled cars spread throughout the town.
People travelling from Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, the USA and almost everywhere in between.
On paper, it’s a classic car show. In reality, it’s something much more interesting.
This was my third visit, having been in 2017 and 2022, and it gets bigger, friendlier and more special each time.
Yes, the cars are amazing.
There were endless rows of split-screen vans of various configurations, parades of historic Schwimmwagens, beautiful Rometsch and Hebmüller coach-builts, and everything from the earliest Volkswagen Beetle Prototypes like W30 1936 to immaculate restorations that looked as though they’d just left the factory.
If you love old Volkswagens, it’s probably as close to heaven as you’ll get.
But I don’t think the cars are the only reason people keep coming back.
The reason is each other.
People who first met at this event nearly 30 years ago are still travelling across the world together.
Owners happily spend an hour talking to someone they’ve never met. Strangers lend tools, offer spare parts and help each other keep cars running.
The local residents embrace it too.
Shop windows are decorated with displays, cafés and restaurants become part of the event, and an entire town opens its arms to a community that only arrives once every four years.
It reminded me of something that I think marketers sometimes forget.
The strongest brands don’t just build customers. They build communities.
There’s a huge difference.
Customers buy products. Communities create belonging.
When people feel they belong, the relationship changes completely. They recommend you without being asked. They volunteer their time. They travel across continents. They make friends because of your brand. They become part of your story, and you become part of theirs.
You can’t manufacture that with another campaign. You certainly can’t buy it with a bigger media budget. It comes from years of consistently giving people something they genuinely want to be part of.
Too often we think about brands through the lens of quarterly sales targets, impressions, clicks and conversions.
They’re important.
But perhaps a better question is this:
If our customers got together without us, would they have anything to talk about?
Would they enjoy spending time together?
Would our brand have helped create relationships that exist beyond the transaction?
Volkswagen certainly has.
And standing in a small German town surrounded by thousands of people who had travelled from every corner of the globe, it was difficult not to admire what that looks like in practice.
Because in the end, the greatest asset a brand can build isn’t loyalty.
It’s belonging.
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