Five Questions with Ellinghaus RE: Re-branding Cadillac

2788 Views 38 Replies 22 Participants Last post by SKH, Jan 18, 2015

ClassyEldo

Discussion Starter · Jan 16, 2015

Here is an interesting article where Ellinghaus answers a few questions about the new direction of the Cadillac brand:

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2015/01/12/150112-QA-Cadillac-Uwe-Ellinghaus.aspx

I wish for the best success in this endeavor! I'm really glad to learn they recognize they should not just attempt to be a clone of the German brands. I'm anxious to hear the new "slogan" for the brand, too. Go Cadillac!

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Z284ever

· #2 · Jan 16, 2015

I liked this part:

Ellinghaus: Optimism is a good differentiator for Cadillac from the German brands. In the past, we lost our American-ness in an attempt to out-German the Germans. So now we want to talk about cool, contemporary Americana. It won't be the Empire State Building or Route 66 or Elvis—but it will be American. Think about fashionable downtown New York coupled with the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley.
And, I should add, we're admired in China, too—our other most important growth market—for being an iconic American brand.

Reactions: 1

dslay04

· #3 · Jan 16, 2015

Z284ever said:
I liked this part:

Ellinghaus: Optimism is a good differentiator for Cadillac from the German brands. In the past, we lost our American-ness in an attempt to out-German the Germans. So now we want to talk about cool, contemporary Americana. It won't be the Empire State Building or Route 66 or Elvis—but it will be American. Think about fashionable downtown New York coupled with the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley.
And, I should add, we're admired in China, too—our other most important growth market—for being an iconic American brand.

Uwe and Johan get it. Everybody get out of the way and let them do what they do best. Let Mark Reuss engineer them, let Ed and Johan collaborate on the designs.

Reactions: 2

sfbreh

· #4 · Jan 17, 2015

We want it to become as iconic as "the ultimate driving machine" has become for BMW. We'll have something that, in a few words, will bring across what Cadillac is about, how Cadillac "feels" rather than just looks.

Dying to see their new marketing campaign.

Reactions: 2

CaddyLac10

· #5 · Jan 17, 2015

Anyone can say their car is the most technically advanced, the best performing, the highest quality, etc. Cadillac shouldn't talk about any of that because it doesn't matter. Most brands do these things well to some extent, give or take an automatic a$$ scratcher or hands free nose picker. Established brands can get away with commercials about feature bragging because little emotional convincing is needed.

Cadillac needs to drill a state of life style, glamor and stardom into people; just like the old days. Cadillac will be competitive, if not class leading, in terms of specs in may cases, but it all boils down to how it makes them feel. Make Cadillac a status symbol again, not just a false sense of success like other luxury brands.

Reactions: 3

Z284ever

· #6 · Jan 17, 2015

CaddyLac10 said:
Anyone can say their car is the most technically advanced, the best performing, the highest quality, etc. Cadillac shouldn't talk about any of that because it doesn't matter. Most brands do these things well to some extent, give or take an automatic a$$ scratcher or hands free nose picker. Established brands can get away with commercials about feature bragging because little emotional convincing is needed.

Cadillac needs to drill a state of life style, glamor and stardom into people; just like the old days. Cadillac will be competitive, if not class leading, in terms of specs in may cases, but it all boils down to how it makes them feel. Make Cadillac a status symbol again, not just a false sense of success like other luxury brands.

Bingo!

Reactions: 1

Neanderthal

· #7 · Jan 17, 2015 (Edited)

He gets that car purchases are emotional events.

I hope the boys upstairs will consider some tailfin reminders. Strakes. The big bold look of the 50s until 1964.

Ellinghaus: Luxury brands sell dreams, not just products. The audience needs to find us inspiring. You can't argue with just details of products and technology. The strongest brands appeal to the irrational. So we want to resurrect the Cadillac brand, not reposition it. The best purchase decisions are the ones based on intuition, not reflection. We need to make Cadillac irresistible.

And, I should add, we're admired in China, too—our other most important growth market—for being an iconic American brand.

bc: What are you hoping to accomplish as you begin to execute the new advertising campaign?
Ellinghaus: It will be a brand campaign, to bring brand values across and to show how Cadillac has changed. We will pursue this tack for some time before we get back to assurances about products. It will be about the spirit of Cadillac, pushing boundaries, and it will introduce a new brand tagline for the whole globe.

We want it to become as iconic as "the ultimate driving machine" has become for BMW. We'll have something that, in a few words, will bring across what Cadillac is about, how Cadillac "feels" rather than just looks.

Given GM and Caddy's advertising history, good freakin luck making this baby fly.
Not that it can't be done. It's just that an F student typically doesn't suddently jump onto the honor roll.
They should solicit suggestions from many quarters.

Have they considered creating ads internally? Someone inside has been succeeding at failure.

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2b2

· #8 · Jan 17, 2015

Neanderthal said:
Ellinghaus: Luxury brands sell dreams, not just products. The audience needs to find us inspiring. You can't argue with just details of products and technology. The strongest brands appeal to the irrational. So we want to resurrect the Cadillac brand, not reposition it. The best purchase decisions are the ones based on intuition, not reflection. We need to make Cadillac irresistible...

...It will be a brand campaign, to bring brand values across and to show how Cadillac has changed. We will pursue this tack for some time before we get back to assurances about products. It will be about the spirit of Cadillac, pushing boundaries...

interesting
this seems to explain (for me) what Lincoln has been working on for quite some time - esp. on facebook

voyager

· #9 · Jan 17, 2015

Ellinghaus: "Well, actually we like to go into long-term reflections on the future of Cadillac. Noticing the debate on fora such as GMI, we think it contributes to brand commitment... And the debate tends to distract from doing a proper job"...

SierraGS

· #10 · Jan 17, 2015 (Edited)

"We need to make Cadillac irresistible" Ellinghaus

The test will be how "irresistible" the product is to buyers when they see it at the dealer.

As long as Cadillac offers "Rental Car Trim" they will never be "irresistible" and the only way your product can even begin to be "irresistible" is to offer more than the leader of the segment does at the entry level. The most important model for even a premium luxury brand is the entry level model as it's content is where many will "try out" the brand.

If that model is lacking just one feature that the segment leader offers as standard on it's entry model all of the inspiration, appeal and irresistibility will vanish forever once the buyer compares "what they got" vs. "what the neighbor got".

This is why GM is wasting it's time with Cadillac in the U.S. since Cadillac has not made the proper adjustments to content since the sales started tanking and show no signs that this will change. Cadillac will stubbornly continue to try to sell the same content in the same trims 5 to 30 years after the market has told them in clear terms what was wrong, the only thing that ever changes is the messenger.

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dslay04

· #11 · Jan 17, 2015

SierraGS said:
"We need to make Cadillac irresistible" Ellinghaus

The test will be how "irresistible" the product is to buyers when they see it at the dealer.

As long as Cadillac offers "Rental Car Trim" they will never be "irresistible" and the only way your product can even begin to be "irresistible" is to offer more than the leader of the segment does at the entry level. The most important model for even a premium luxury brand is the entry level model as it's content is where many will "try out" the brand.

If that model is lacking just one feature that the segment leader offers as standard on it's entry model all of the inspiration, appeal and irresistibility will vanish forever once the buyer compares "what they got" vs. "what the neighbor got".

This is why GM is wasting it's time with Cadillac in the U.S. since Cadillac has not made the proper adjustments to content since the sales started tanking and show no signs that this will change. Cadillac will stubbornly continue to try to sell the same content in the same trims 5 to 30 years after the market has told them in clear terms what was wrong, the only thing that ever changes is the messenger.

Clearly that isn't happening so.......

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Z284ever

· #12 · Jan 17, 2015

I think the secret that Ellinghaus is embracing is, that Cadillac will never out-German the Germans. That would be a fool's errand. Cadillac is American. Revel in it.

So grow some balls and bring back the pool commercial with the guy from Band of Brothers......

Ed753

· #13 · Jan 17, 2015

CaddyLac10 said:
Anyone can say their car is the most technically advanced, the best performing, the highest quality, etc. Cadillac shouldn't talk about any of that because it doesn't matter. Most brands do these things well to some extent, give or take an automatic a$$ scratcher or hands free nose picker. Established brands can get away with commercials about feature bragging because little emotional convincing is needed.

Cadillac needs to drill a state of life style, glamor and stardom into people; just like the old days. Cadillac will be competitive, if not class leading, in terms of specs in may cases, but it all boils down to how it makes them feel. Make Cadillac a status symbol again, not just a false sense of success like other luxury brands.

More "pool-side" commercials?

------------------------------------------

It's like a slow moving train, not sure if it is even going fast enough to wreck, but sure is entertaining to watch...............

I hear a lot of hyperbole, I wish they would have asked one more question, I was certain he was to the point where he was going to start his answer out with;

"actually my **** doesn't stink, but.................".

nadepalma

· #14 · Jan 17, 2015 (Edited)

He's certainly confident, I give him that. He makes some good points and I agree that the brand has to be irresistible. I also applaud him for wanting to play up the Americana angle as well.

However, keep in mind that this is the same person who hated the "Poolside" piece with Neal McDonough; which IMHO was the best Cadillac ad in recent memory. I know a lot of people hated this ad. It was bold, brash, and patriotic. But was it insulting? For the life of me, I can't really understand why (unless you're French, of course). It's not like they were showing this ad in France or any other country, AFAIK.

As for the Americana angle, if he wants some inspiration, I'd love to see something like this old Cadillac ad from the 2002/2003 time frame. At the time I was in college and remember watching this over and over again. I really loved the imagery, and the fact that "famous" Cadillac show cars like the Cien, Vizon, and Imaj.

Though it's a more subtle homage to the Americana-angle, I also liked this commercial from "Zeppelin" era, narrated by Gary Sinise:

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roy219

· #15 · Jan 17, 2015

nadepalma said:
However, keep in mind that this is the same person who hated the "Poolside" piece with Neal McDonough; which IMHO was the best Cadillac ad in recent memory.

If that sickening "Poolside" advert represents the "best Cadillac ad in recent memory", then Ellinghaus' proposed brand transformation should be notched up even higher in terms of urgency.

Reactions: 1

mgescuro

· #16 · Jan 17, 2015

dslay04 said:
Uwe and Johan get it. Everybody get out of the way and let them do what they do best. Let Mark Reuss engineer them, let Ed and Johan collaborate on the designs.

Everybody get out of their way!!! That includes Reuss. Especially Reuss. Let Ed collaborate... but not too much.

roy219

· #17 · Jan 17, 2015

SierraGS said:
As long as Cadillac offers "Rental Car Trim" they will never be "irresistible" and the only way your product can even begin to be "irresistible" is to offer more than the leader of the segment does at the entry level.

What do you mean by "Rental Car Trim"? The fact that rental cars (not including exotics) in the USA are automatic transmission only?

ATS offers more than the leader of the segment (BMW F30) does at the entry level - and highline trims as well - in the context of driving dynamics. That's why my brother replaced his BMW E90 with an ATS Standard 2.0T 6MT rather than a BMW F30 with similar specs back in 2013. He couldn't resist the ATS' fun to drive nature.

Reactions: 1

nadepalma

· #18 · Jan 17, 2015 (Edited)

roy219 said:
If that sickening "Poolside" advert represents the "best Cadillac ad in recent memory", then Ellinghaus' proposed brand transformation should be notched up even higher in terms of urgency.

As I said, that was my opinion. No other Cadillac commercial in the last few years has stood out in my mind. This ad was confident, memorable, and got people talking. Ironically, the fact that the commercial was for the ELR was kind of lost in the shuffle.

I'm not stating that they need to do more "Poolside" ads. I'm saying that in looking to reignite awareness of the brand, he's saying it has to stay uniquely American. I applaud that. However, some of those things that he's trying to convey --- inspiring, irrational, intuition, optimism, entrepreneurial spirit --- were already depicted in the ad that he rejected and everyone was upset about.

Maybe Uwe will have a lighter, better approach. Maybe he won't. Either way, I don't judge how good an ad is by the reaction and hand-wringing it evokes from Parisians.

I wish his team luck.

mgescuro

· #19 · Jan 17, 2015

CaddyLac10 said:
Anyone can say their car is the most technically advanced, the best performing, the highest quality, etc. Cadillac shouldn't talk about any of that because it doesn't matter. Most brands do these things well to some extent, give or take an automatic a$$ scratcher or hands free nose picker. Established brands can get away with commercials about feature bragging because little emotional convincing is needed.

Cadillac needs to drill a state of life style, glamor and stardom into people; just like the old days. Cadillac will be competitive, if not class leading, in terms of specs in may cases, but it all boils down to how it makes them feel. Make Cadillac a status symbol again, not just a false sense of success like other luxury brands.

Remember what I've always said. Luxury is a lifestyle. You either get it, or you don't.

All luxury brands will have leather, technology, etc. The way they differentiate from each other is the brand and what it stands for to the buyer.

Reactions: 5

Neanderthal

· #20 · Jan 17, 2015 (Edited)

nadepalma said:
He's certainly confident, I give him that. He makes some good points and I agree that the brand has to be irresistible. I also applaud him for wanting to play up the Americana angle as well.

However, keep in mind that this is the same person who hated the "Poolside" piece with Neal McDonough; which IMHO was the best Cadillac ad in recent memory. I know a lot of people hated this ad. It was bold, brash, and patriotic. But was it insulting? For the life of me, I can't really understand why (unless you're French, of course). It's not like they were showing this ad in France or any other country, AFAIK.

As for the Americana angle, if he wants some inspiration, I'd love to see something like this old Cadillac ad from the 2002/2003 time frame. At the time I was in college and remember watching this over and over again. I really loved the imagery, and the fact that "famous" Cadillac show cars like the Cien, Vizon, and Imaj.

Though it's a more subtle homage to the Americana-angle, I also liked this commercial from "Zeppelin" era, narrated by Gary Sinise:

I agree, "Poolside" was really the only Caddy, or GM for that matter, ad in many years that I considered clever, well-done, humorous, and not (as almost all their other ads are) an embarassment.

?Breakthrough" was also excellent. I was rockin throughout that ad, it really grabbed me.

nadepalma said:
As I said, that was my opinion. No other Cadillac commercial in the last few years has stood out in my mind. This ad was confident, memorable, and got people talking. Ironically, the fact that the commercial was for the ELR was kind of lost in the shuffle.

I'm not stating that they need to do more "Poolside" ads. I'm saying that in looking to reignite awareness of the brand, he's saying it has to stay uniquely American. I applaud that. However, some of those things that he's trying to convey --- inspiring, irrational, intuition, optimism, entrepreneurial spirit --- were already depicted in the ad that he rejected and everyone was upset about.

Maybe Uwe will have a lighter, better approach. Maybe he won't. Either way, I don't judge how good an ad is by the reaction and hand-wringing it evokes from Parisians.

I wish his team luck.

They will need it, lots of luck.

If he didn't like "Poolside," I wonder what he does like.

And yes, the irony of their best ad in years was wasted on a 33%-overpriced car with the least-desired bodystyle known to man, speaks volumes about the mental chaos within GM.

Z284ever said:
I think the secret that Ellinghaus is embracing is, that Cadillac will never out-German the Germans. That would be a fool's errand. Cadillac is American. Revel in it.

So grow some balls and bring back the pool commercial with the guy from Band of Brothers......

roy219 said:
If that sickening "Poolside" advert represents the "best Cadillac ad in recent memory", then Ellinghaus' proposed brand transformation should be notched up even higher in terms of urgency.

What was sickening about it? Did people get seasick? I thought it was hilarious and brash.

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