Remember the “legendary” story about a freshly-minted GM Car Czar peeking under a tarp (the non-financial sort) and saying, “This isn’t the new Corvette!” The Kool-Aid drinkers were awestruck; Bob Lutz was serving notice that GM design wasn’t good enough! In fact, as we pointed out, it wasn’t the new Corvette; Maximum Bob was simply showing his colleagues that he knew the difference between a Corvette and a non-Corvette. Well, here we go again, only this time MB is GM’s Marketing Czar and it’s a reviled Buick ad. Set-up: MB in the FastLane: “That Buick commercial tested very well, which is not the same as saying that it’s an effective ad. I think you will very quickly see a drastic change in the tone and content of our advertising. And if you don’t, it will mean that i have failed.” AdAge: “GM’s new marketing top gun, Bob Lutz, met with the automaker’s brand teams on July 14, spent 10 to 20 minutes critiquing the work for each brand and, in the words of someone in the know, ‘crapped all over the advertising.’ Then he jetted off to the Caribbean island of Montserrat on holiday, leaving some scared individuals in his wake.” Taxpayers/shareholders included.
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Is this a bad thing? The head guy of marketing for all of GM has no business micromanaging the advertising of the individual brands. If he does, then why are there brand marketing teams in the first place?
This is in contrast to a recent story where the GM executive committee was deciding whether some item was going to be standard or optional equipment on a new Buick model. This is micromanagement nonsense.
Here, I think Lutz has it right. His job is to set a tone and objectives for what the image of the brands is going to be and to tell the teams doing the work whether their advertising campaigns are or are not going where the brands need to go. Shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes to do this.
I have said all along, of all the “old blood” from old GM, Lutz is the only one with the capacity to be a change agent.
jpcavanaugh:
Casting Bob Lutz as a “change agent” is like suggesting that spilling bleach on colored clothing is the best way to prepare it for the wash. And don’t ask me how I know.
I do agree with him on that buick ad. It’s pretty tasteless, unlike the wildcat ad above, which is just plain awesome in its tastelessness.
“Wouldn’t You Really Rather Be Carjacked In A Buick?”
Yes, even at advertising he’s a genius, fully capable of addressing both good and bad, his well developed nose for marketing communication a marvel to behold.
Look for the “Crock of Shit” theme to be launched in GM advertising.
I’m not sure the PC multicultural crowd would go for this kind of commercial, anymore. Too bad, since, given the way things turned out, it’s no longer an anachronism.
Just read the other article about the breeding patterns of the feral cats at SHAP…
And then saw the 3 banditos here…
(I know what follows is totally not PC, but I can’t help myself – and I am a multi-culturalist at heart.)
Who cares to do the math … 3 banditos in 1964 … 11.6M illegal immigrants in 2008 ….
Who is more prolific? Cats or banditos?
p.s. BTW, burning a finger-tip with the lighter, and erecting that fancy power window border fence didn’t seem to scare them off…
From the Ad Age article: “The GM executive has a sort of old-school approach to advertising, according to people who have worked with him in that arena in the past. He favors beauty shots of products in ads and talk about the vehicle’s differentiating features. …
The second phase of the new Lacrosse sedan launch from Topolewski might come closer to Mr. Lutz’s expectations. … The work is more product-focused, including a commercial on the car’s “spectacular interior.” The third phase, which will arrive in September, aims to show its differentiating technology and features, she said.”
I’m on Lutz’s side here. The creation of ads is lucrative for ad agencies, and the more elaborate the production the more opportunities to pad the budget. (Bertel knows all about that.) I want to know about the car and why I should consider it, rather than having to view some self-important director’s experiment in modern art.
For another example of wasted effort, check Mazda’s website, which makes you watch ecstatic dancers floating through the air before you get a picture of a car. Then there’s a weird collage of snapshots instead of straightforward images of interiors, etc. I’d “crap all over that” if I was a marketing czar.
Am I really alone in thinking that the (new) Buick commercial really isn’t so bad?
Yeah, OK, I like the music it’s set to, but aside from that, it provides enough teasers about Buick that it should at least raise a few eyebrows of people who would have otherwise never considered a Buick. And that’s where you have to start, as you really can’t totally change people’s perceptions of the brand in a single 30-second segment.
With appropriate follow-up commercials, this could work — in my opinion.
This is my favorite GM ad – for Holden in the early 1970’s:
You might have seen it before, but I think we need more ads like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Ic3RqPIJo
I don’t know what those things mean together, but check out the models! They’re REAL people.
thanks,
Andrew
Buicks?! We don’t need no steenking Buicks!
@vanderaj: This is my favorite GM ad – for Holden in the early 1970’s
During this same time period in the U.S., GM did one almost EXACTLY like this…except instead of “football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars” it was, “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.”