Ignore the cars themselves. It’s tough, I know. But pretend for a second that all things are equal. Pretend that we’re in a parallel world where GM actually manufactures competent automobiles.
Oops, they’re going bankrupt here too.
One of the best campaigns this year has been for the Toyota Prius. Beautiful, elegant, original, iconic, arresting, memorable—all the adjectives that you want consumers to associate with your automobile.
One of the worst campaigns this year has been for GM, with Ed Whitacre (really?!!) walking around a soundstage, seemingly at random. Boring, implausible, suspicious, anemic, sad.
That’s an imperfect comparison, because Prius is a product and GM is a company. But the larger point still stands. GM hasn’t the first clue about how to sell cars in a global free market.
So what have they done? They’ve decided to try to circumvent the whole marketing battle. Their new tagline: “May the Best Car Win” is basically a pleading time-out from the world of advertising and product positioning. Too bad you can’t actually do that, GM. Too bad you’re losing ground every day by ignoring the realities of a media-based economy.
So instead of pretending that you’re fighting a marketing-neutral product war (which you’re not), or that you’d even win such a war (which you wouldn’t), it’s time to start thinking about a tangible, plausible value proposition that actually has relevance in today’s market.
Here’s a hint: your pathetic satisfaction guarantee ain’t it.
