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Car Wars. And Style.

August 10, 2010 in Marketing | 0 Comments

Ford is a wonderful marketing story – following years and years of big car stasis and poor management it has begun down a colorful new road.  The cars have gotten smaller, management has its eyes on the horizon and in a country where borrowing is rampant, it gets props for not taking the government cheese. Cool technology, too.

G.M. has made smart decisions, but still feels like a company run by old dudes with dandruff on their suit collars.  Most businesses can sell off flagging assets and brands, get smaller, refinance, wave the flag and make a comeback.  Sorry to sound disrespectful because I want G.M. to win, but the company doesn’t feel particularly contrite or forward thinking, the Chevy Volt aside.

Chrysler, on the other hand, still struggling and playing tortoise to Ford and G.M.’s hare, is an interesting company to watch. America loves an underdog…just watch the World Series or Super Bowl some time.  And America loves European styling and design. Chrysler is the former and has a chance at the latter. It has gone quiet for a while in the area of new product development while working hard to design some exciting new cars. Good move.  While Ford’s new small cars will have big American grills and other old style embellishments, I’m hoping Chrysler will be creating some Fiat-like smaller cars that people on the street can’t keep their eyes off. Were I Chrysler, I’d design hot looking, efficient cars that appeal to women: a French looking car, then an Italian car, perhaps a German-styled car. Women love style. This is a design approach whose time has come.  It never would have flown decades ago, but it will today.  Tortoise shell glasses anyone? Peace!

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The Future. G.E. G.M. Healthcare.

December 16, 2009 in Marketing | 0 Comments

No dopes G.E.  Jeffrey R. Immelt announced to shareholders Tuesday his strategy to focus on two business sectors: healthcare and energy. By divesting of NBC Entertainment and paring back G.E. Capital, he’s amassing a war chest of $26B for 2010 (I love saying twenty ten) so that G.E. can put some serious Benjamins against Energy 2.0. 

Had Mr. Immelt done this 20 months ago, G.E. would have been in a much better place today but shareholders would have balked and he may have been ousted.  Even if you can see the future, it’s still the future.  The American car industry needed to make a bold move – focusing on more energy efficient gasless cars – 4 years ago but didn’t have the nerve. You just know there were nerds and young engineer types (without vesting) walking the halls of corporate car companies pleading for carbon neutral, low energy cars back then. But the car guys didn’t want to be first to push the plug.  So now we have to wait for the Chevy Volt and when it does arrive, it won’t be available in great numbers. (Mistake.)

The future isn’t going anywhere.  It can be predicted.  Humans and human behavior, short of a mutation or two, are pretty easy to understand. Maslow was right.  What’s holding up healthcare reform right now is capitalism, a touch of greed, and the inability to see the future. It will get done, but there will be bandages along the way.

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G.M. and the “Detroit Bailout Challenge.”

November 8, 2008 in Marketing | 0 Comments

Riffing on yesterday’s post, here’s what I fear. GM is cutting, cutting, cutting to show it deserves a bailout. To wit “In July G.M. announced plans to cut $10B in costs and raise $5B thought the sale of Hummer brand, and new borrowing. On Friday, the company said it would cut another $5B, including slowing production at 10 factories and cutting capital spending next year by $2.5B – a move that will delay the introduction of several new vehicles.” (Source NYT 11/08/08.)   

 

This type of stuff won’t win the What’s the Idea? “Detroit Bailout Challenge.” It’s numbers crunching accounting stuff.  No vision.  Speed up the delivery date of the Chevy Volt. Buy the Smart Car company from Mercedes. Cut production of all SUVs by 75%. Now you’d be talking.  Be bold and win the challenge. Peace. (Oh yeah, and go St. John’s Red Storm!)

 

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Chrysler vs. GM, Worlds Apart

September 17, 2008 in Marketing | 0 Comments

 
Wild days are these. General Motors is going to Washington with hat in hand trying to get some gov’t cheese bail out money to help retool its factories to build more Chevy Volts. Late to the table with the new electric Volt, GM finally strapped on a pair and decided it was time to do something about its hemorrhaging business. 
 
Chrysler, on the other hand, is launching the biggest ad campaign of the year in support of — are you ready for this — the Ram truck.  I’m not kidding. Is it any wonder Chrysler? Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital Management (capital, as in financial crisis.) Some dolt must have said in a marketing meeting “the Ram is our largest selling brand, let’s give it everything we’ve got.”   David Lubars (of ad agency BBDO,) Deborah Meyer (CMO of Chrysler,) and world class film director Tony Scott should all be ashamed of themselves. Does anyone hear a fiddle playing and smell smoke?
 
GMnext is the signal General Motors is sending into the market. Good idea. And Chrysler is sending some cowboy shizz called the “Ram Challenge.” OMG!

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