GM's "Once and Done" Advertising

[Ytriox]

It's all about the bottom line. GM doesn't make any where near as much on a car sale as most of their foreign competitors, and one place where that lack of profit shows up is in the advertising budget. Extra costs per car built mean fewer dollars that can be spent on ads. Honda can afford to advertise the Accord for years after it comes out. They can afford to put together ad hoc ads whenever they get an award or recognition. GM can't. So they restrict the ads to where they are most desparately needed or can be most afforded, on new, unfamiliar models, and on high volume/profit models (aka trucks). It isn't that they decided not to do more advertising. They just can't afford it unless they find a way to slash costs (i.e. by outsourcing all manufacturing to South America and Korea) or slash brands and nameplates.

[tgagneguam]

Is GM's Advertising blitz-and-be-done strategy for redesigned or refreshed cars enough to sustain interest in the cars over the lifetime of their design cycle?

The answer to your question, Ming, is most probably not. However, if you're trying to get a perspective on why that is, I think the answer is more complicated and probably stems from a variety of reasons. After all, GM is not the only one guilty of this type of advertising faux pas.

I'm not a marketing expert, so I cannot speak intelligently to the cause of the behavior. I do wonder if there would be negatives to advertising aging vehicles-and let's face it, there are some old vehicles sitting on more than one automaker's lots. I also wonder if it stems from more practical concerns: newer vehicles need to recover their heavy investments, and the best time to do that in most cases is peri-launch. And would heavy advertisement of older vehicles, particularly those that have recovered their initial investment, be done to the detriment of profits; would it become an issue of diminishing returns?

Based on that, and again based on my novice understanding of advertising, I simply don't know. I do hope that those in the know know!

[adplusone]

How many of you have seen "Your______Chevy Dealers" (or Hummer, Pontiac etc) in your local papers or TV?

What GM has done with this dealer groups is to move hundreds of millions of dollars from their balance sheet to local dealers.

These local groups vote to withhold a certain amount (.50% - 2%) of the MSRP which goes to support local advertising. GM matches 25%....but that means GM gets $ 1.00 of brand advertising for every 25c invested.

Such a deal.

[uboys]

1. Somebody called it: Brand Advertising. That is what they need to focus on.
Individual models are alright, but I would rather they did more brand advertising--and in more creative, non-media ways.

2. GM needs to get people into their cars. Test drives, malls--whatever it is, they need to get people to look at them.
In many markets, people have never even heard or seen them.

[LAMRONH]

I agree with you, Ming.
I see few GM ads where I live, in the inland northwest. What I do see is terminally forgettable.
Or maybe I DO see lots, and just forget them immediately...
IMHO about 90 percent of GM's ads just plain suck.
My Perfect Storm example of a car introduction with the most pathetic advertising campaign is the Lucerne with its silly, silly, thilly heated washer fluid drivel.
Those were memorable ads, but for all the wrong reasons.
GM's strategy sucks and their tactics suck. So is it surprising they're not winning?

When the GM brain trust appears to think that changing car model names is a better strategy than making better cars, who is surprised that their ad campaigns are laughable?

Apparently only management.

It's not that they don't have enough money. Their ads have sucked for years. Ad agencies are IMO way overrated and way way overpaid.

GM should cut loose all their ad agencies, and generate ads internally for two years. Reward success and reassign the failures.

This would save half the budget, and management might accidentally discover that GM has many people with enormous talent who don't hang out on the top floor going to frikkin meetings, which apparently consist largely of hatching new model names, and having press conferences all the time.

[LAMRONH]

Originally Posted by Ytriox

Honda can afford to advertise the Accord for years after it comes out.

One reason is that people know what an Accord is. They know that 10 years ago there was an Accord and in 10 years there will be a 2017 Accord.

LeSabre. Lucerne. Century, Regal. LaCrosse. In 2012 it will be _______.
Pontiac 6000STE. Pontiac Bonneville. Pontiac G8.

Is there a problem here?

[5 watt]

Originally Posted by Ming

It's also disappointing when GM decides a certain model is not popular enough to warrant advertising.

I think "It's also disappointing when GM decides a certain model is not good enough to warrant advertising" is a better way to put it. GM knows that it has some product that just isn't very good and they don't want to talk to the customer about them. I can't remember the last time I saw a commercial for the Bu or Nox. Soon Chevrolet will have the Silverado, Tahoe, Impala, Malibu, Cobalt, HHR and Corvette that will all be good enough to put in commercials.

Chevrolet also needs to work on there seasonal add campaigns. I loved there "Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple pie & Chevrolet" campaign but the rest of the year the adds aren’t very compelling. The Mpg ads are a good start but they just don't have any pop to them.

GM dose have some good ad campaigns though including; Cadillac, Saturn, Hummer and Denali. I think this was started by having good products that GM and there marketing people actually want to promote. GM also needs to know its non mainstream brands can use ads that are less mainstream. Buick and Pontiac I am looking at you.

[tama z71]

Blitz and done is absolutely the worst method in the industry. I have not seen the Colorado advertised since 2004, and my Canyon? Please. Blitz and maintain. Follow the Toyota Tacoma model. Absolutely the best run of auto advertisements I've ever seen.

[IAMCANADIAN]

GM's advertising is lacking. They advertise a new product and then it seems like it almost disappears. More advertising is going to promote even current models better and perhaps increase sales.

[Michael_S]

Originally Posted by LAMRONH

One reason is that people know what an Accord is. They know that 10 years ago there was an Accord and in 10 years there will be a 2017 Accord.

LeSabre. Lucerne. Century, Regal. LaCrosse. In 2012 it will be _______.
Pontiac 6000STE. Pontiac Bonneville. Pontiac G8.

Is there a problem here?

I agree with you 100% on this.

Also, remember that Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, and so forth have much fewer models than GM. So this month GM advertises the Aura, next month the new Malibu, then a refresh on the LaCrosse, then the G6, then the Impala, then the Aura... and Toyota just keeps banging away this month Camry, next month Camry, the following month Camry, Camry, Camry, Camry out the ears.

So not only does the Camry have a 20+ year name history, it also has 20+ years of constant advertising. The GM names come and go, and even the ones that stick around for a few generations only have a few months' worth of total advertisement time.

[stevecmh]

there are a few products that GM really doesnt advertise for .. Does that mean they dont think they are good enought to keep dumping money into the ads for those cars?

[camaro_freak]

Originally Posted by cromagnum

I bought an 06 Monte SS recently. I know it's going out of production soon, but there were alot of changes with the 06 model (v8 engine specifically), that I was not aware of until I happened to stop and look. I almost bought an Accord v6 coupe, but test driving the SS Monte sold me. Point is, I never saw ANY advertising on the car. Maybe helped to kill the car, don't know.

same thing happened when the Camro and Firebird were being phased out. All marketing and commercials fizzeled out..

GM needs to market their vehicles better regardless of how old they are!

[mbukukanyau]

I think Cadillac especially the CTS is the only one that GM has consistently poured money into. And the results show.

[throwback]

As others have mentioned, good advertising costs money. When you have as many divisions as GM, the money is is not available to spend on all of the cars. This leads to spending money on the more profitable cars like trucks and Caddys.

[LAMRONH]

According to this, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...hoe&topic_set= GM's ad budget is about $3 billion per year.
From my view, it looks like the scores of MBAs in advertising are reaching the dilution-to-ineffectiveness level, just as the scores of MBAs in management are.
Time to look less at the degree, and more at the brain of the potential employee or contract help.
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'.