GM tries to overcome 'recall fatigue'

DETROIT -- General Motors has launched a cutting-edge digital marketing tool to reach customers on Facebook and other popular websites. It assigned one of its top marketing executives to the effort.

The goal: Get owners of decade-old small cars to click on an ad encouraging them to have their defective ignition switches replaced before something bad happens.

Despite an unprecedented push to get 2.2 million U.S. cars into dealerships to replace faulty ignition switches now linked to at least 30 deaths, roughly 1 million of the cars remain unfixed.

GM calls the owners of the unrepaired cars the "unengaged audience." And it knows who they are. The company spent months tracking down contact information and mailing recall notices. In fact, GM knows these owners well enough to have surveyed thousands of them to learn why they haven't had their cars fixed.

Some have only one car and busy schedules with children. Others have dutifully followed GM's instructions to strip all objects from the key chain to prevent the switch from slipping out of the run position, and figure that's good enough.

To persuade the owners to have the repairs done, GM last month began a digital-marketing campaign worthy of a new-car launch. The automaker is working with an analytics company, Acxiom Corp., to place recall ads that reach the vast majority of the unengaged on popular websites.

Here's how it works: GM gives Acxiom its list of the roughly 1 million "unengaged" owners. For privacy reasons, Acxiom acts as the go-between to match car owners with accounts on Facebook, MSN, AOL and other sites. The ads appear on those users' home pages with a link to a site that explains how to get their Chevrolet Cobalt, Saturn Ion or other recalled car repaired. The New York Times reported last month that political campaigns have used the same technique to reach voters.

The method is "quite groundbreaking in terms of digital marketing," says Megan Stooke, GM's executive director of global marketing operations, who is spearheading the effort. Stooke also oversees GM's branded entertainment, manages relationships with its advertising agencies and oversees Chevy's Manchester United soccer sponsorship, among other duties.

"It gives us this safe environment where we can match our owners and serve up that message one by one," Stooke says.

GM's survey data show that 36 percent of the unfixed-car owners have families with children. Twenty percent are young adults. Another 20 percent are empty nesters.

Stooke said the information helps GM tailor the message in the online ads. For owners with children, the message might emphasize the availability of free loaner cars. GM figures younger owners are less likely to have a standing relationship with a particular dealer, so those ads direct them to their nearest dealership.

Mike Rozembajgier, a vice president at Stericycle Inc., which advises automotive and other companies on managing recalls, said the avalanche of recalls by GM and other manufacturers has made it harder to get the message to consumers. He calls it "recall fatigue."

"Eventually it all just becomes noise," Rozembajgier said. GM's digital outreach "is a great way to battle that fatigue with a laser focus that delivers the message to them in an environment where they're already spending time."

To reach about 100,000 older owners who are less likely to be active online, GM last month opened a dedicated call center in New York with 72 advisers to walk those customers through the recall process.

"We need to go all out and do everything we can to urge customers to get into the dealership because ultimately we're worried about customer safety," Stooke says. "We're going above and beyond what we would normally do."