Archive for September, 2010

Top global automotive brands–Interbrand’s 2010 global brand ranking

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Today, Interbrand released their “Best Global Brands 2010” ranking. Ten automotive brands made the top 100.  The following chart details the ten automotive brands, their ranking in 2009 and where they stand in 2010.

Nissan decides to build a brand.

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

A couple of weeks ago, Nissan launched a new brand campaign. Today Nissan made available a new commercial for the Leaf, their soon to be launched plug-in EV:

This is a wonderful commercial, it’s big, emotional and engaging. Before seeing it, I was certain that I didn’t want an EV, now I’m less certain, and I know for sure that I want to help that polar bear.  I admit that this commercial makes me think about Nissan a little differently; I’m not yet convinced that the company stands for “Innovation for all” but it’s a start.

Nissan has struggled over the years to establish a brand identity for itself. Automotive marketing history buffs can probably trace the issue back to the decision to change Datsun to Nissan in 1981.  In 1986, after a transition period, the brand was officially Nissan.

Since that time Nissan has struggled in the shadow of Toyota.  While Toyota steadily built a reputation for quality and reliability and smashed sales records, Nissan labored as the number two Japanese brand.  Nissan’s brand identity has never been clear and I suspect for many people it’s an simply an alternative to the better established Toyota.

The manufacturers in the vast middle of the market struggle with brand identity partially because (more…)

Chevrolet breaks new Cruze television ads.

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

This morning Chevrolet’s campaign for the new Cruze broke.  Two televsion commercials produced by Goodby with Tim Allen as the voice-over.

Nothing earth shaking here, nicely produced  and very product focussed, the commercials clearly make the point that the Cruze is a car that is surprising people. “Get used to more” is a nice line and a huge improvement over “Excellence for all.”   More than anything else the tone and manner sets these executions apart from recent Chevrolet work:

These commercials certainly make the point that the Chevrolet Cruze offers a lot versus the competition and is worthy of a look but they do not offer a big “ah ha” regarding the positioning of the Chevrolet brand.

It will be interesting to see where they go from here.