GM 100
Pivot Points Table of Contents

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Ad innovator, potent media powerhouse

Through most of its history General Motors Corp. has been one of the nation's biggest ad spenders. While some have pigeonholed the giant automaker as a Rust Belt, old-economy marketer, the reality is that over the course of its first hundred years, GM has pioneered a slew of ad tactics well ahead of their time. [SUB]


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Chevy takes value, volume message, and wraps it in flag

Value wrapped in an American flag has been a cornerstone of marketing for General Motors Corp.'s volume leader. "The thing that makes Chevrolet advertising great throughout the years has been the recurring message of American pride. They use the cowboy, the fireman, the mother. Chevrolet is a piece of Americana," said John Middlebrook, who headed... [SUB]


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LaNeve attacks mpg perception issue, homes in on brand message

Mark LaNeve is among a small number of General Motors Corp. marketers who've risen to a key executive position at the automaker. Mr. LaNeve, who joined GM in 1981 as a senior consumer service adviser at Cadillac, has been VP-vehicle sales, service and marketing for GM in North America since spring 2005 [SUB]


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Leadership role often made Cadillac a very visible target

The prestige, and peril, of forward-looking design and engineering have always propelled Cadillac's advertising, whether via sexy Kate Walsh revealing her expectations for the sleek CTS in 2007 or the ruminations on "The Penalty of Leadership" in 1915. [SUB]


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Always quick to cut, Guarascio ushered in era of the megadeal

Phil Guarascio, who retired at 58 from General Motors Corp. as VP-corporate advertising and marketing in 2000, was unquestionably among GM's most flamboyant executives. Carrying out GM's master plan to cut costs, Mr. Guarascio squeezed both agencies and media, though most agency executives eventually saw him as an ally. He steered GM into modern... [SUB]


Heavy lifting has new meaning

t's not like there was no warning. But now that gasoline prices are dancing around $4 a gallon, motorists are thinking smaller. That leaves GMC, the venerable truck-building arm of General Motors Corp., in a tough spot. GMC has survived war, recession, Depression and energy shocks, but this time the pain feels permanent to many, and that's bad... [SUB]


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How Saturn went from unique to just another one of the crowd

The task facing Saturn marketers today is a tough one: raise awareness and consideration while virtually starting over with a repositioned brand, price point and entirely different products. And hope that your parent doesn't shut you down. [SUB]


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Buick's tough act sandwiched between Chevrolet and Cadillac

For Buick, once known as the "doctor's car," the challenge now is to convince younger consumers that it's Tiger's car and should be theirs. [SUB]


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From wild DeLorean days to Zarrella, Middlebrook had a front-row seat

John Middlebrook's career at General Motors Corp. spanned almost the entire second half of the auto giant's first century. Mr. Middlebrook, 67, retired this summer as GM's first VP-global sales, service and marketing operations. [SUB]


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Hummer, Saab play up differences, then find themselves out on a limb

They're two auto brands with military heritages, but that kind of toughness may not be enough to survive under General Motors Corp. It has been almost 20 years since GM acquired half of Saab Automobile AB in 1990. It snapped up the rest of Saab in 2000, a year after GM acquired Hummer. Today, both brands face an uncertain future in the GM family. [SUB]


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Pontiac's ride in the fast lane takes a turn to pump frugality

It's a brand whose image has been shaped by the likes of Bunkie Knudsen, John DeLorean, Davy Jones, David Hasselhoff ... and Oprah Winfrey. Pontiac has worn its "muscle car" mantle proudly over the decades, though not too proudly to take occasional detours to adjust to oil price shocks or attract female drivers. [SUB]


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Under relentless pressure, shops learn to adapt to demanding client

When the going gets tough, the tough get going ... to new ad agencies. Chevrolet and Campbell-Ewald have ridden hand in hand through the peaks and valleys of the auto industry since 1922. But other General Motors Corp. shops can take little comfort. [SUB]


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A Midwestern directness keeps Campbell-Ewald in sync with Chevy

Since 1922 when it became Chevrolet's agency of record, Campbell-Ewald has been linked with the General Motors Corp. division through good times and bad, much like a marriage. [SUB]


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Hopp stretches from 'Chevy of '80s' to social media and analytic tools

Tony Hopp, chairman-CEO of Campbell-Ewald since 1997, celebrated his 40th year at the agency in June. He started at the Warren, Mich.-based shop in 1968 as an assistant account exec in the multiproducts group on industrial accounts like Ex-Cell-O and Rockwell International. [SUB]


They didn't run company, but execs left their mark

Behind the Alfred Sloans and Bunkie Knudsens and Phil Guarascios are legions of other, perhaps less-heralded individuals whose talents, creativity and foresight helped make General Motors the marketing powerhouse that it is today. [SUB]


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Lessons learned, GM extends multicultural-marketing reach

As Latino VIPs arrived at the red carpet of this year's "Premio lo Nuestro," the highest-rated music awards show on Spanish-language TV, they did so in a fleet of Chevrolet Tahoes, Suburbans and a Corvette. Chevy's marketing push at "Premio" was a far cry from one of GM's first Hispanic efforts, a 1993 Spanish-language spot for Saturn featuring a... [SUB]


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Quick to experiment, GM seeks to make new-media dialogue pay

This is not your father's ad medium. Apologies to General Motors Corp. for riffing off that famous Oldsmobile ad slogan from Leo Burnett USA, but Olds is history and so are the days of GM being satisfied with pushing its messages to consumers via big TV campaigns. [SUB]


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Marketer knows how to play game, from racing to teeing it up for Tiger

The link between General Motors Corp. and sports is almost as old as the company itself. [SUB]


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When Tiger winces, Buick feels his pain

Shortly after winning his 14th major championship and his third U.S. Open on June 16, Tiger Woods announced via his website that he would undergo reconstructive knee surgery and miss the rest of the 2008 season. For Buick, which has employed Mr. Woods as a pitchman since 2000, that meant readjusting its "Tee-Off With Tiger" promotion. [SUB]


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EV1 was ahead of its time; GM directs Chevy into green scene

Chevrolet is taking the point as General Motors Corp. struggles to buff up its green image -- dull compared with rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp., and tarnished from the earlier, abruptly ended EV1 electric car. [SUB]


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Long entrenched overseas, GM leans heavily on emerging markets

A car for every purse and purpose," CEO Alfred Sloan proclaimed in the 1920s. As far as General Motors Corp. was concerned, even as far back as the '20s, that credo could be expanded to "every growing region of the world." [SUB]


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Led by Buick, carmaker learning fine points of regional China tastes

Among global marketing giants, General Motors Corp. is no stranger to China. GM China was founded in Shanghai in 1929. Today, China is GM's third-largest market globally after the U.S. and Brazil, and one of its fastest growing. [SUB]


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High-performance helped define generation of speed-loving drivers

Performance aficionados will tell you the muscle-car era got rolling when Pontiac introduced the 1964 GTO. A marketing execution linked to the tiger--with an ad showing an attractive model in front of Pontiacs and copy that said, "Some tigers are fierce. Some tigers are ferocious. We build both"--helped set off a phenomenon seldom... [SUB]


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GTO puts its best foot forward

In the early 1960s, Pontiac was popular with middle-aged Americans who wanted a midprice car, recalled Jim Wangers, longtime account exec on Pontiac at MacManus, John & Adams. The introduction of Pontiac's muscle cars and some sharp marketing, much of it devised by Mr. Wangers and blessed by his like-minded client, helped the brand gain street... [SUB]


When it came to an event, GM sure threw some crowd pleasers

Selling the steak has a lot to do with the sizzle, and no automaker has practiced the art of the extravaganza more assiduously than General Motors. Whether it's a -rama (Motorama, Futurama, Powerama), a traveling tent show or a world's fair stage, GM has never been shy about strutting its stuff. [SUB]


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America's 100-year love affair with the car often put to music

Even before there was a General Motors, the cars and trucks that would come to define the company exerted a big influence on American popular culture. A century later, that hasn't changed. [SUB]


GM 100 Digital Edition
GM 100 Digital Edition
COMMENTARY
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GM's story is the American story >>
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A powerful force in a century of change >>
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Perot was a burr under Roger Smith's saddle >>
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The Cadillac caper: Brand claimed Lincoln's sales crown in '98; but the figures were phony >>
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GM and Flint grew together >>
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The way out of the maze: Use overseas strengths >>
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Below the surface, always something >>
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The auto industry paid the price when GM's gumshoes trailed Nader >>