Re-branding GM. Is there a question?
by Greg von Urff on Jun.26, 2009, under Brand, Consumer Marketing, Marketing Strategy
Now that GM has been rescued and is living on borrowed money and time, you would think they would have had more concern about how they were using it. Bring in brand strategists from car companies still doing well, and done a complete overhaul. Unfortunately, GM has done none of these things and their branding is still just as poor. But this time, their using our money for poor advertising. Rather than just sit and complain about how they are doing it wrong – let’s discuss how they could do it right. Here are the top 6 questions I would answer, and expect that whomever is in charge of their strategy should be thinking about as well.
- Would you keep the name GM? GM, or General Motors, is a rather blah name as it is. It doesn’t stand for power, no one immediately thinks of performance. And although you may like many of the brands that they make, did you even know they were GM? I would suggest possibly re-naming or at least allowing the power brands to step out under their own names and let ‘GM’ fade away.
- What car lines would stay and which would go? If I were to name off brands in GM, the first few that come to mind are Chevrolet, GMC, Jeep and Hummer
- What is the ultimate goal of the website? Currently, GM has launched a restructuring and renovation site, to give people an inside look at what is going on in the company. Neither site are the “GM” site, and neither site scream building customer loyalty. But what will happen in 60 days when the re-launch is complete? Will their website fit the new brand or fall short?
- How will the print and tv commercials be focused?
- How would you focus on social media strategy? With the Fastlane blog, a facebook & flickr page, and a budding presence on Twitter, they are making the right steps…but that doesn’t mean they will be able to sustain them. For example, their twitter page is run by an assortment of 6 people, who all also have their own twitter pages…a bit confusing and unorganized. Won’t be long until they are failing at keeping up at least one of them.
- Which age group/demographic would you focus on? This is probably the most difficult question as their brand does span the markets. For example, their most recent product launch, the Camaro, is definitely going to be important to get right. While one might think the Camaro should be aimed at a younger generation, it is going to be the car guys who dreamed about owning one in the 60′s/70′s who will have the connection (and the money) to afford the new one. This type of analysis should be done for all of their vehicles.
What do you think about these questions? If you were given the reigns to decide on a new marketing/advertising strategy, what would you do?
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October 27th, 2009 on 11:15 am[...] how they’ve continued to be successful. As in a previous post, they’ve never taken the time to establish a brand in the first place so falling flat on their face with “Drive one” really doesn’t hurt them any more than [...]
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August 25th, 2010 on 9:28 am[...] We’ve talked a lot about brands, how they choose to promote their products, and how to avoid brand nightmares. We also covered the (partial) re-branding of GM – or at least what we think they should have done! [...]
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June 26th, 2009 on 8:33 am
RT @kirstenwright Re-branding GM. Is there a question? – http://tinyurl.com/lnyugb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
June 26th, 2009 on 8:37 am
RT @kirstenwright: Re-branding GM. Is there a question? – http://tinyurl.com/lnyugb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
June 26th, 2009 on 9:27 am
Jeep has never been a GM brand. Jeep is part of the Chrysler family. It was Willy’s then Kaiser, then AMC before being bought by Chrysler.
GM brands included GMC, Chevy, Pontiac, Cadillac, Saturn, Oldsmobile, Hummer, Buick, Saab, Daewoo, Opel, Vauxhall, Holden, and Wuling. Oldsmobile, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, and Pontiac are gone, sold, or being phased out. Daewoo, Opel Vauxhall, Holden, and Wuling are predominately overseas marques. GM will reorganize with four North American brands: Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC.
They should look at the market placement of those brands. Too much of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, saw little differentiation between Chevy, Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile. Most of the cars under these marques were just rebadged with some minor differences in interior finish and exterior chrome. GM ought to look at making sure each brand has a niche in the market–Chevy is the entry level. You move up to a Buick and aspire to own a Cadillac. GMC keeps its position as the workhorse marque.
But I don’t think it bodes well for them. Focusing on a throwback right out of the gate (the “new” Camaro) says that they really aren’t looking at being different–just more of the same.
August 28th, 2009 on 2:13 pm
On GM…. I think they are foolish in their choice of brands to kill… If I were running the company… unfortunately I’m not one of Obama’s former Chicago cronies, so I wasn’t tapped for that position.
Anyway…. If they are picking 4 brands… they should be Chevy, Cadillac, Pontiac & Hummer and here’s why…
Chevy is the bread & butter division as far as GM recognition, plus has the Corvette, the new Camaro, along with the truck/suv line. This could exist as the entry level, little of everything brand.
Cadillac is the the more prestigious of the ‘oldster’ brand — Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac.. and also has very nice cars in the CTS, STS, XLR, Escalade, etc. What does Buick sell? This is the Luxary Brand.
Pontiac – is the ‘Excitement’ division and has some great cars in the G8, G6, Soltice, and potential to do a retro GTO… see Camaro, Mustang, etc. They could capitalize on the image of excitment and make this the sporty, fun, Performance Brand.
Hummer – Do we really need a GMC Yukon and a Chevy Tahoe/Suburban? Do we really need a the same vehicles with different grills? A HUMMER though.. that is BRAND recognition and desire… so why not make HUMMER your TRUCK line… Take advantage of the tough, rugged, best in class persona of Hummer and develop Mid-size Trucks, Full size, SUV’s all around that brand…
So you have Chevy… the Entry Brand, Cadillac – The Luxury Brand, Pontiac – The Performance Brand and Hummer – The Rugged/Tough Brand..
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