How GM plans to free itself and its remaining brands from the taint of failure

[articsteve]

By David Welch and David Kiley @ BW

As General Motors (GM) begins its perilous course through bankruptcy, its marketing team is working overtime on the company's other biggest challenge: repairing GM's crumpled image.

Led by many of the people who helped revive Cadillac nearly a decade ago, the team has been frantically developing a pair of campaigns aimed at buffing up GM and the four brands that will survive bankruptcy—Buick, GMC, Chevrolet, and Cadillac. Susan Docherty, vice-president of Buick and GMC, says she is working seven days a week, sometimes scheduling conference calls at 10 p.m. "I tell my staff: 'If you're not comfortable with the pace, get with it or get out,' " she says.

The first priority is convincing Americans the company has changed. Eric Hirshberg, whose Deutsch Los Angeles agency is handling the campaign, says "the public needs to believe that GM acknowledges it's paying for past mistakes." That's why the ads now appearing online, in newspapers, and on TV telegraph repentance. The message, says CEO Frederick A. "Fritz" Henderson, is that "the GM that let too many of you down is history."

In mid-June, GM will pivot to plugging Buick. The primary focus is on hooking younger buyers who have zero loyalty to GM vehicles. Buick, while popular in China, has come to be considered a fogy brand at home (average buyer age: 66). Americans love a makeover, so that is the theme Buick has latched on to. One ad has a plastic surgery spin with the catch line: "Nip. Tuck. Weld." To reel in younger buyers, ads for Buick's curvy new LaCrosse sedan will feature its array of Lexus-caliber gadgetry, including a hard drive for music, a system that alerts drivers if someone is in their blind spot, and a retractable rear sunshade. And where Buick used to advertise alongside televised golf games—watched mostly by middle-aged people—it will buy time during National Football League games, which skew younger. "We need to be relevant, and we aren't today," says Docherty.

TWITTER CAMPAIGN

GM plans to double down online, dedicating 25% of its ad budget to Web marketing. In one initiative, the company is asking customers who ditched their imported wheels for a GM vehicle to recount their stories on Twitter and Facebook. "Someone who bought a car is worth a lot more than a 30-second [TV] ad," says Jay Spenchian, GM's North American marketing chief.

Can GM repair its reputation? Much depends on how long it lingers in bankruptcy. If the proceedings drag on longer than the expected three months, says James N. Hall of industry consultant 2953 Analytics, then people will be reminded of the company's troubles. But if GM can get through bankruptcy quickly, as the feds predict, then the strategy of splitting the automaker in two—with the to-be-liquidated brands in one company and the four survivors in the other—could conceivably convince people GM is worth another chance.

The automaker is not stinting on marketing dollars to make its case. In three years or so, GM's ad budgets will match those of Toyota Motor (TM). The company is also praying that its humiliating comedown will kindle empathy among consumers. Mark LaNeve, GM's North American sales and marketing chief, says he hopes that "Americans will root for us as an underdog."

[toolatecrew]

Hmmm so the plan is extra web marketing to "Convince us" they have changed? How about actually changing? WOuld that maybe work better?

They are going to focus on Buick? Yeah focus on your lowest selling brand. The one with no cars in the two biggest segments Compact and Mid Sized. How about a product that actually appeals to younger buyers instead?

Sigh...you can put lipstick on a pig folks but its still a pig.

[claudster]

Buy focusing on Buick, they don't have to actually change anything. People like my father will continue buying Buicks, and not expect anything more.
Dad shrugs off the sleezy-slimy salesman as a normal part of the sales process and being given the runaround when dealing with warrenty issues as normal when dealing with service. I guess this is a reason why Buick seems to have high satisfaction scores.

[Mitlov]

Hmmm so the plan is extra web marketing to "Convince us" they have changed? How about actually changing? WOuld that maybe work better?

They are going to focus on Buick? Yeah focus on your lowest selling brand. The one with no cars in the two biggest segments Compact and Mid Sized. How about a product that actually appeals to younger buyers instead?

Sigh...you can put lipstick on a pig folks but its still a pig.

GM has changed.  Spend an hour in the driver's seat of a new CTS and see for yourself.  I did, and it was a revelation.

Buick DOES have a compact (the Excelle); it's just not currently sold here right now (just like Ford has the Fiesta, but it's not sold here right now).  While I haven't had a chance to touch one, from pictures, it appears to be closer to a loaded Jetta in terms of quality and refinement than it is to a Cobalt.  And there's a new one on the way, based upon the Cruze, that will be to the Cruze what the CSX is to the Civic.

Buick DOES have a midsizer.  The LaCrosse/Allure is midsized, and there's a new one in 2010 that's the same sort of quantum leap forward that the new CTS and new Malibu were for Caddy and Chevy:







By the way, the stereotype that all Buick owners are old just isn't true.  Like Lexus, their average age is older than, say, Infiniti or Mazda.  No doubt.  But for the record,  I know two 20-something Buick owners off the top of my head.

If Buick offered a car I wanted, the badge wouldn't put me off from buying it.  Not one iota.

[sailor723]

I have to agree with you Mitlov. If someone had told me 5-10 years ago that I would be driving a Cadillac today I would have laughed in their face. Although,I had an Allure rental the other day that was a POS....plastic interior,cheap feeling comtrols,wallowed like a "land yacht"... (definitely the "old" GM). I hope the 2010 replacement really is light years ahead

[Scaerio]

What do people think about the decision to halt Vibe production rather than re-launch it as a Chevrolet (or even Buick, perhaps)?  Is GM just handing over a bunch of potential sales to the Toyota Matrix?  On one level this decision is good for Canada as it should translate into increased Matrix sales...

[Mitlov]

What do people think about the decision to halt Vibe production rather than re-launch it as a Chevrolet (or even Buick, perhaps)?  Is GM just handing over a bunch of potential sales to the Toyota Matrix?  On one level this decision is good for Canada as it should translate into increased Matrix sales...

I don't think a company can stand on its own two feet by selling a rebadged car from a direct competitor.  Let Toyota keep the Corolla hatchback (which is basically all a Matrix/Vibe is) and, if you want to sell a compact hatchback, sell a Cruze hatchback.  Or make the next-gen Astra in North America instead of Belgium (so it'll be profitable selling it here) and sell that: