Archive for June, 2009

I wish I had a Saturn dealership

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

brandhttp://autoperspectives.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/brand1-150x150.gif 150w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />

This week it was announced that Roger Penske had cut a deal to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors.  What a terrific development for Saturn and the Saturn brand.

A few weeks ago I was with a GM marketing guy and he made the observation that “you can tell that finance guys made all the decisions about the future of GM, because marketing folks would have kept Saturn and Hummer.”

The point he was making is that a marketing person would have recognized the inherent value in the Saturn and Hummer brands.  It looks like Hummer is going to get a second chance with a new Chinese owner and it remains to be seen if Hummer can successfully navigate changing consumer sensibilities to build a solid and profitable business in the US.

Saturn on the other hand grabbed the brass ring.

(more…)

re-invention

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

gm

Let me start by pointing out that I am not a GM basher.  I think the government was right to help and I want the company to succeed.

Having said that, the new GM advertising and website  (http://www.gmreinvention.com/) which seeks to convince us that there is a new company called GM and that it is re-inventing itself is lame at best and insulting to our intelligence at worst.  Here’s the new commercial/video:

If you go to the website, there are quite a number of interesting videos and lots of information designed to make the reader feel confident that this is a company that is changing and that it has a bright future.

Here’s what bothers me, the same GM team using the same agencies have cranked out another big production anthemic commercial and a bunch of videos…where’s the “re-invention” in that?

(more…)