Nowhere, perhaps, is the scene more dramatic than at General Motors Co. With a litany of customer dissatisfaction, a Neanderthal corporate culture, descending sales and an embarrassing bankruptcy, the company’s “vice chairman,” 77-year-old Bob Lutz, abandons his retirement plans (again), leaves his product development position, only to turn up as GM’s chief marketer.
If nothing else, such a scenario dramatizes the incredible impact the state of the economy is having on business.
The GM/Bob Lutz story has implications for every business in our post recession world, one that has to do with marketing, selling and customers.
1. Marketing is in near total disarray. When Bob Lutz arrived back at GM a decade ago, he said (in no uncertain terms) there was something wrong with GM’s vehicle line up and his job was to fix it. While the reviewers now give most GM cars high marks, the sales fail to reflect consumer confidence. Now, Bob makes it clear that there’s something wrong with the way GM is advertising its products.
Why he is upset is no surprise. A few years ago, he gets the Chevy Malibu ready for the road and the marketers come up with a bizarre advertising theme: “The car you can’t ignore.” It didn’t take an expert to figure out what would happen. Of course, consumers took the bait - and ignored the Malibu.
As GM’s new head marketer, Bob recently delivered a devastating body blow to Buick’s marketers when they told him a new Buick TV commercial had “tested well.” That’s when he gave them a page out of Marketing 101: just because an ad tests well doesn’t mean it’s an effective ad.
Demonstrating how far off the mark marketers are today, a Buick VP commented to Advertising Age on the TV spot this way, “The pretesting landed in the ‘top quartile’ for originality and breakthrough work.” As Bob might say, “So what?”
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