GM opts against Super Bowl ad amid cost cutting

[96_impala_ss]

Originally Posted by fenderbender

They should produce just one short clip of the Astra, then at least a few people will know about it.

lol. no that would be harmful to gm

while on that topic, i saw a saturn aura commercial last night. only lasted 10 15 seconds and didnt say much but that the car existed. no specs or anything, just aura.. by saturn. rethink

[fenderbender]

Originally Posted by 96_impala_ss

lol. no that would be harmful to gm

while on that topic, i saw a saturn aura commercial last night. only lasted 10 15 seconds and didnt say much but that the car existed. no specs or anything, just aura.. by saturn. rethink

And GM wonders why Saturn isn't doing well

[GM-Joe]

No reason to spend millions because except for the Volt, none of their products affect or gain interest across most demographics.

[djo165]

Originally Posted by Tequilujan

Hmm, Isnt there some amazing gm vehicle that everyone has been anticipating launch around march or something? i cant remember the name but i was sure it would deserve a 30 second spot....not sure though, guess not

Yeah, I seem to recall something about a new Chevy coupe.

Puh-leeze, GM. Yes, advertising during the Super Bowl isn't the most efficient or targeted method. But Super Bowl ads generate more word of mouth and instant discussion than any other ads, period! Most people who see them are sitting with a group of friends at the time. And the "shotgun" effect can definitely be a positive. More new eyes and ears to hear the message.

And I'll bet Toyota will be advertising there. But then, Toyota has demonstrated they know how to market their products.

[aa2]

If I was GM I'd take 2 billion of marketing and give it directly to the local dealers based on the volume of revenue they sell. The dealers would then be required to use that money for local community type marketing/charity.

GM has 7,000 dealers so it would be an average of 300,000$ per dealer per year. Each dealer could then add to that amount with their own advertising budget if they wanted.

With that the dealers would fund little league teams, with the uniforms with the GM logo and the dealer logo. Which is the ideal audience, parents with school age children. Donate cars for charitable lotteries. Fund community concerts or dances.. ideally starring local talent. Or whatever makes sense for the local community or the creativity of each dealership.

[04bonnie]

Yes, Super Bowl ads are expensive, it's kind of rediculous. BUT, this is not good for GM, not having an ad running. WHY does there need to be a new vehicle launch for an ad? This has bothered me for quite some time. I see Chevy Traverse ads now (but can't buy the vehicle), but rarely see Enclave ads any more. WHY? It seems that GM doesn't like to advertise the vehicles they have in the line up, only the ones that are coming out, or have come out very recently (I do see Malibu TV ads often). I see Nissan ads all the time, and Kia a ton, but GM seems to be very soft on the TV advertising in general. I think they are missing the boat. It's ok NOT to do the Super Bowl, because the price is outrageous, so I get that decision, but they need to step up ads. Where have the Chevy Silverado ads been? The ones with the Melencamp song playing "this is our country", why are they gone just because the new Silverado is not in launch anymore? Also, the GM ads for 100th anniversery have been weak. They show older vehicles, but skip from the 70's, right to today's Malibu. Why not show all decades?

I've seen another form of cost cutting. I ordered a "brochure" for the Chevy Traverse, and guess what I got? A piece of paper, (small, not even full sized) with a picture of the Traverse on one side, and a small photo on the other, with a few details. That's REAL cheap, wouldn't sway ME to buy a Traverse. I wanted an actual brochure to keep with my 2009 Enclave brochure, so I will have all 4 2009 Lambdas, since I own an 09 Enclave. BUT, guess I'll have to walk in to a Chevy dealer and get the REAL brochure, it's obvious GM is cutting cost, that thing I got in the mail was a joke.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by kenman923

Are they still planning to give a Cadillac away to the MVP of the Super Bowl?

I was wondering the same.

I think if GM could get a really clever commercial like the Beer companies tend to put out they get lots of exposure afterwards. A really clever Volt ad wouldn't be a terrible idea, but I can see their point. You know the commercial would be a fest anyway.

[CaptainDan]

Unfortunately, the Superbowl ad campaigns have devolved into an expensive competion for advertising companies to compete (on the corporate money) in their own "advertising olympics" to see who can win awards, and have the most memorable, the funniest, the "edgiest" ad out there.

That's great entertainment for me, but most of those "best" ads don't actually help the product that they aledgedly advertise. With some of them, you can't even tell what they ARE advertising!

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by jbernie

Based on that statement alone it isn't a bad idea, don't advertise just for the sake of it, make sure you have something worthwhile advertising.

Given GM advertising's mixed record, this is probably a good thing.

[skylark68]

I'm glad that GM is steering clear of the Super Bowl. Lots of people discuss the ads, but how many of them actually go out and buy the product?

Glad to hear that GM didn't advertise during the Emmy's also. I heard it was one of the worst ones in years.

[Chaz_23]

Great idea. Any cutting of marketing and marketers is money well saved.

[johnnyl321]

I know another way that General Motors could save some money....stop being so @#$%*! stupid with how you spend. Today, we had 2 people from OnStar at my dealership for some onsite training. Christ....the sales staff knew more than these guys!! What a waste of time and resources. Plus, they're tooling around in Cadillac Escalades!!! WTF are they thinking at GM, that gas is cheap!!! They should have put these guys in a G6 or 4 cylinder Malibu and sent them, not each of them driving an Escalade.
Also, when they send window stickers to the dealerships for the cars....why not pack 10 or so into an envelope? They mail individual ones at the rate of $1.51 each. Now, multiply that by say 100,000 window stickers nationwide, and you're talking about some serious cash. Maybe not enough to stave off bankruptcy, but that's over 150,000 dollars right there.

[Chaz_23]

That's quite astonishing to hear. But not surprising. Where's Jerkorian or Ghosn when you need them. They'd put an end to this sort of non-sense.

Originally Posted by johnnyl321

I know another way that General Motors could save some money....stop being so @#$%*! stupid with how you spend. Today, we had 2 people from OnStar at my dealership for some onsite training. Christ....the sales staff knew more than these guys!! What a waste of time and resources. Plus, they're tooling around in Cadillac Escalades!!! WTF are they thinking at GM, that gas is cheap!!! They should have put these guys in a G6 or 4 cylinder Malibu and sent them, not each of them driving an Escalade.
Also, when they send window stickers to the dealerships for the cars....why not pack 10 or so into an envelope? They mail individual ones at the rate of $1.51 each. Now, multiply that by say 100,000 window stickers nationwide, and you're talking about some serious cash. Maybe not enough to stave off bankruptcy, but that's over 150,000 dollars right there.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by skylark68

Glad to hear that GM didn't advertise during the Emmy's also. I heard it was one of the worst ones in years.

For some strange reason, I watched it. I don't know why - I usually don't catch the Emmys.

It was the worst show of any kind that I have seen in years. Absolutely awful.