Brand Failures
Brand Failures Brand Failures
262 Brand failures The $600-million plant bristles with robots, computer terminals, and automated welding equipment, including two massive $1.5 million Ploogate systems that align and weld assemblies of body panels. Unmanned forklifts, guided by wires buried in the floor, will carry parts directly from loading docks. In its flexibility, Orion sets new standards for GM plants. But while GM’s technology may have been cutting edge, the values associated with the Oldsmobile brands were anything but. An article in the Detroit News in May 2002 explained the problem the Detroit-based company faced in the 1980s and 1990s: GM’s historic brand strategy, pioneered by chairman Alfred Sloan in the 1920s, counted on consumers methodically moving up the ladder of affluence from Chevrolet to Buick to Oldsmobile to Cadillac. The game plan worked when GM built distinct cars for every division, but fell apart when the company slapped different nameplates on essentially the same vehicles. A solid, but staid Oldsmobile has little appeal to consumers enamoured with sleek Audi sedans or Toyota’s elegant Lexus luxury cars. Loyalty, instead of enthusiasm, drew consumers to GM showrooms. The average age of owners of Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac drifted into the mid-60s. Towards the end of the 1990s, GM unveiled a new branding strategy to combat this lack of enthusiasm. The idea was to focus more on specific models rather than the brand division. Within the Oldsmobile range, GM launched the Alero, Aurora and Intrigue models in an attempt to catch up with its slicker rivals. Although the new cars received various positive reviews within the automotive press, and an intensive marketing drive that included strategic appearances in The X-Files, they failed to capture the share of the younger market they were designed to attract. At the end of 2000, GM made what must have been a painful, if unavoidable decision to gradually phase out the Oldsmobile brand. The Oldsmobile collector’s models mark the end of production. From 2004, no future Oldsmobile models will be manufactured. Since the decision was made, marketing experts have been conducting post-mortems of the brand to see what exactly went wrong. One mistake that
Tired brands 263 has been highlighted repeatedly is GM’s attempt to strip the brand of its oldfashioned connotations. This was always going to be difficult for a car that predates Ford and even has the word ‘old’ within its name. GM tried to get round this problem by launching an advertising campaign based around the slogan, ‘This is not your father’s Oldsmobile’. However, as Coca-Cola discovered with New Coke, it is not easy to reverse a brand identity which has been a century in the making. Another, rather pointless tactic was to build Oldsmobiles without the name Oldsmobile on the outside of the car. One Brand Week article, published in February 2001 after GM made its decision public, examines the folly of such branding exercises: The problem [Oldsmobile] encountered is that brands, particularly brands with a well-established image, cannot be repositioned. At best they may be nudged slowly in a new direction but not one that is the antithesis of what it stood for [. . .] A better solution, and a more unique approach, would have been to accept the brand as it was, with its older profile, and give its older customers a product they wanted to own with a message that appealed to their needs. In addition to capitalising on the existing profile of the brand, that strategy would have taken advantage of the growing number of mature Americans and their increased spending power. The Oldsmobile hadn’t always been viewed as staid and boring though. Although it had never been a youth brand, it had been considered an innovator in its field. The most critical brand damage therefore occurred when this reputation faded, and the motivation to buy an Oldsmobile (as opposed to another GM car) no longer remained so great. However, despite these obvious failings, affection among Oldsmobile’s traditional customers is still strong. There is even a Web site (www.saveolds mobile.org) dedicated to encouraging GM to reverse its decision to phase the brand out. But a visit to the Web site will only serve to remind you that the significance of the Oldsmobile brand is confined to the past. The affection most feel for the car is already tinged with nostalgia. Indeed, if it is the job of branding to distinguish one product from the next in the mind of the customer, the Oldsmobile brand failed decades ago.
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- Page 225 and 226: Rebranding failures 217 Lessons fro
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- Page 229 and 230: 79 British Airways When British Air
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- Page 237 and 238: 81 Pets.com In the mid-1990s, when
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- Page 276 and 277: 268 Brand failures 91 Ovaltine When
- Page 278 and 279: 270 Brand failures 92 Kodak Failing
- Page 280 and 281: 272 Brand failures tive strategy if
- Page 282 and 283: 274 Brand failures 93 Polaroid Live
- Page 284 and 285: 276 Brand failures launch of its SX
- Page 286 and 287: 278 Brand failures ‘was that they
- Page 288 and 289: 280 Brand failures 94 Rover A dog o
- Page 290 and 291: 282 Brand failures 95 Moulinex Goin
- Page 292 and 293: 284 Brand failures 96 Nova magazine
- Page 294 and 295: 286 Brand failures The cycle of lau
- Page 296 and 297: 288 Brand failures As with most bra
- Page 298 and 299: 290 Brand failures For the Levi’s
- Page 300 and 301: 292 Brand failures to the stores in
- Page 302 and 303: 294 Brand failures One argument was
- Page 304 and 305: 296 Brand failures market is 18-24
- Page 306 and 307: 298 Brand failures 100 Yardley cosm
- Page 308 and 309: 300 References
- Page 310 and 311: 302 References Malmsten, E, Portang
- Page 312 and 313: 304 Index candour see honesty Capit
- Page 314 and 315: 306 Index ideas failures 71, 82 hea
- Page 316 and 317: 308 Index and extension 93 New Coke
- Page 318: 310 Index Taiwan 163 tampons 137-39
Tired brands 263<br />
has been highlighted repeatedly is GM’s attempt to strip the brand of its oldfashioned<br />
connotations. This was always going to be difficult for a car that<br />
predates Ford and even has the word ‘old’ within its name.<br />
GM tried to get round this problem by launching an advertising campaign<br />
based around the slogan, ‘This is not your father’s Oldsmobile’. However, as<br />
Coca-Cola discovered with New Coke, it is not easy to reverse a brand<br />
identity which has been a century in the making. Another, rather pointless<br />
tactic was to build Oldsmobiles without the name Oldsmobile on the outside<br />
of the car. One <strong>Brand</strong> Week article, published in February 2001 after GM<br />
made its decision public, examines the folly of such branding exercises:<br />
The problem [Oldsmobile] encountered is that brands, particularly<br />
brands with a well-established image, cannot be repositioned. At best<br />
they may be nudged slowly in a new direction but not one that is the<br />
antithesis of what it stood for [. . .] A better solution, and a more unique<br />
approach, would have been to accept the brand as it was, with its older<br />
profile, and give its older customers a product they wanted to own with<br />
a message that appealed to their needs. In addition to capitalising on<br />
the existing profile of the brand, that strategy would have taken<br />
advantage of the growing number of mature Americans and their<br />
increased spending power.<br />
The Oldsmobile hadn’t always been viewed as staid and boring though.<br />
Although it had never been a youth brand, it had been considered an<br />
innovator in its field. The most critical brand damage therefore occurred<br />
when this reputation faded, and the motivation to buy an Oldsmobile (as<br />
opposed to another GM car) no longer remained so great.<br />
However, despite these obvious failings, affection among Oldsmobile’s<br />
traditional customers is still strong. There is even a Web site (www.saveolds<br />
mobile.org) dedicated to encouraging GM to reverse its decision to phase the<br />
brand out. But a visit to the Web site will only serve to remind you that the<br />
significance of the Oldsmobile brand is confined to the past. The affection<br />
most feel for the car is already tinged with nostalgia. Indeed, if it is the job<br />
of branding to distinguish one product from the next in the mind of the<br />
customer, the Oldsmobile brand failed decades ago.