GM aim: Show its softer side

[nadepalma]

SOURCE: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...01100366/1148/

GM aim: Show its softer side
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News


Gary Cowger, vice president of GM North America, tests a Suzuki motorcycle as other GM execs look on. The automaker is trying to shed its stodgy image.


DETROIT -- Global restructuring, cost cutting and a revamped product line are the forces driving General Motors Corp.'s turnaround bid.

But another less tangible factor has grabbed the attention of the world's largest automaker: likability.

Long viewed as stodgy and ultra-corporate, GM is making a concerted effort to show a more human and personal side of the world's largest automaker.

"There's a feeling that GM is the big, insensitive colossus that needs to be kicked regularly," said Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman for product development. Lutz, a former top Chrysler executive, said one factor that helped that automaker's comeback in the 1980s was its image as a scrappy underdog that Americans rallied behind.

"The perceptual problem remains our greatest hurdle," he said of GM.

With that in mind, GM used the stage of the North American International Auto Show to try to make the company more human and bring out some personality in its executives and remind people that it's a company made up of real people who care about cars and customers.

So when the automaker's top executives arrived for the star-studded GM Style celebrity fashion show Saturday, none of them wore a tie.

Then, at Monday's debut of the Cadillac CTS luxury sedan, a group of GM employees that included a Lansing factory worker and an interior designer, among others, took the stage in place of the typical corporate types.

And Tuesday's launch of the 2008 Malibu sedan featured a skit in which Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper got a faux image makeover from a celebrity stylist. The clip included Peper's wife bemoaning his lack of flair and a quip from Lutz that the Chevy chief's wardrobe is "most unremarkable."

GM wants to connect

GM wants to connect with consumers on an emotional level.

"There is this perception that we just don't get it, that we're this Midwest bureaucratic, smokestack kind of company," said GM sales chief Mark LaNeve. "That couldn't be further from the truth."

GM's message incorporates not just an amiable personality, but also things like an ability to be flexible and a commitment to diversity. And it stretches beyond the auto show. GM is incorporating real people into ads and working on an initiative called the Arlington Project. That effort has some 50 GM representatives waging a direct marketing campaign and meeting with local dealers and media to talk about the good things going on in Detroit in 16 cities from Sacramento, Calif., to Buffalo, N.Y.

"They're trying to say, 'Hey, come back to us, we're not the same company,' " J.D. Power and Associates auto analyst Jeff Schuster said. "They're trying to get out that they're not this stodgy large, massive company that moves with the speed of an amoeba."

To be sure, GM's problems run far deeper than image. The company lost $91 million in the third quarter of 2006 and continues to struggle with falling market share, excess capacity at its plants and soaring health costs. But GM is making progress. It has cut billions of dollars from its operating costs, generated hype and praise for its products and last year cut a major health care deal with the United Auto Workers union. Still, perception problems continue to dog the company.

Ford, Chrysler had same idea

GM isn't the first to highlight its sensitive side, an approach that's garnered at best mixed results among Detroit's Big Three.

Ford Motor Co. took the real-people angle last year with a series of touchy-feely ads that featured images of Americana such as a father teaching his son to drive and a mother and daughter jumping into a mountain lake.

But neither of those ads nor an online documentary series chronicling the company's turnaround that ended last week generated a wave of gushy hype.

Chrysler, with all its sentimental appeal, also had Lee Iacocca, the greatest salesman to ever hit Detroit.

The sentimental chord doesn't play with consumers like Dan Schaffrin, a mechanical engineer in Groveland, Ill.


MORE HERE

[CrunkedRL]

I think the best image boosting decision GM has made in recent years was hiring Bob Lutz. IMO he's very atypical of most others on the corporate level. His no holds barred, tells it like it is approach has garnered much criticism but has also yielded very positive results. I think he has a way of connecting with an audience that would otherwise be unknown to other GM execs. If we had lesser GM execs sitting on their thumbs fearing the unknown GM would be in a much better position than they are today. IMO too many execs on this level are out of touch with consumers and what the consumers want. Hopefully we will continue to see more change at GM in the months and years ahead. BTW if they really wanted to change thier image they should have showed up at the autoshow in a DUBs edition Escalade sportin' chrome 22s listening to T.I. or G-Unit

[adplusone]

Let's not forget Sears ill-fated "The Softer Side Of Sears" advertising campaign from several years ago...

[01cavalier]

It will work fine if they do it right, and they really have needed to do this a long time ago too. Lutz does help with the image, and as frank as he is about things, he shows some personality.

[hotrod1949]

Remeber, it is all about perception. They need to lose the image of being an unapproachable, faceless giant.
Nothing bad can happen from appearing to be in tune, modern and caring about your customers.Right?

[MCGARRETT]

Question?

Is the Suzuki motorcyclye that they are on actually in the GM display? Is Suzuki in the GM display with all the other GM brands? Does this mean that GM wants to keep Suzuki? or that it wants to bring it in closer to the fold. Which would be a good idea in my opinion, just buy the whole thing, cars motorcylces and everything else.

[mkaresh]

Very good article. I've been suggesting this for over a decade. The Internet offers many possibilities for the people who develop the cars to connect with the people who buy them, and no manufacturer has done much to exploit these possibilities. A few do hold chats on various forums, but much more could be done.

I greatly enjoyed the CTS presentation for this reason. Maybe journalists are too jaded to care, but I felt that it was good to see the people who actually created the car up there to present it. (Didn't hurt that I knew a couple of them from my time inside GM doing research for my Ph.D.) Not only does this put a human face on the company and the product, but it lets these people see why they do the work they do.

Of course, this was a presentation for journalists, not the general public. T.V. ads featuring these people wouldn't have the same effect, as TV doesn't provide a sense of real connection. People assume that anything they see on TV is artificial. So I'm back to the Internet as the way to present a human face on a large scale.

[DU Biggs]

Originally Posted by MCGARRETT

Question?

Is the Suzuki motorcyclye that they are on actually in the GM display? Is Suzuki in the GM display with all the other GM brands? Does this mean that GM wants to keep Suzuki? or that it wants to bring it in closer to the fold. Which would be a good idea in my opinion, just buy the whole thing, cars motorcylces and everything else.

Here is a link to the floor plan of the show... http://www.naias.com/SubPage.aspx?id=502
Suzuki is pretty far removed from GM and usually is...but i kind of agree with your idea of buying some or all of it back

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

The photograph and caption show the GM executive "testing" the motorcycle.

How do you test a motorcycle that is bolted to a display stand inside a building?

Media hype / spin.

[gmmerc5]

Originally Posted by MCGARRETT

Question?

Is the Suzuki motorcyclye that they are on actually in the GM display? Is Suzuki in the GM display with all the other GM brands? Does this mean that GM wants to keep Suzuki? or that it wants to bring it in closer to the fold. Which would be a good idea in my opinion, just buy the whole thing, cars motorcylces and everything else.

Don't know about whether GM wants to bring Suzuki back into the fold, but a rumor last night: GM may bid for stake in Malaysia's Proton -paper
Tue Jan 9, 2007 7:28 PM ET, see link below

http://today.reuters.com/misc/Printe...-PROTON-GM.XML

[johnny smallblock]

Originally Posted by 1999 White C5 Coupe

The photograph and caption show the GM executive "testing" the motorcycle.

How do you test a motorcycle that is bolted to a display stand inside a building?

Media hype / spin.

I know. It's like showing a new car at an auto show. No one can test it out, so what's the point. All hype and spin. You got that right.

[GM_Guy81]

The M109R is a great bike! Very cool looking and fast too.

[Firebird00]

I also agree that hiring Bob Lutz was a plus in the image department. His loud, in your face, outgoing personality is definently what they needed in a corporation of neckties and pocket protectors. He's just a normal guy being normal, not all stuck up and afraid to give a direct answer like the "suits".

Originally Posted by adplusone

Let's not forget Sears ill-fated "The Softer Side Of Sears" advertising campaign from several years ago...

I was just thinking about that. Yes, the softer side of Sears....where we only pay our employees $5.50/hr w/ no chance of ever getting a raise and having little to no time for a personal life. Softer side my @$$.

[regfootball]

the reason they do this is to ultimately connect with women buyers, because they hold most of the auto purchase pursestrings.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by GM_Guy81

The M109R is a great bike! Very cool looking and fast too.

I really don't know anything about motorcycles, but it is a sweet looking bike. I realize the bike's engine is not running in that picture, but I'm visualizing how funny it would be if it was, and all of a sudden it hopped off its stand, Ferris Bueller-style, with the GM exec sitting on it hanging on for dear life.