The BIG Kahuna

This morning I woke up to news that President Obama has fired GM President Rick Wagoner. Which now means the government is running GM, at least for now. I’ll say it again…The government is running GM.

Sure GM took some bailout money, sold their soul to the devil and are now paying the price. But here’s the part to ponder. Obama and his group gave GM and Chrysler a last chance effort to come back with a plan that would get them out of this mess. A plan? How does a company whip up a marketing/financial plan on the spot when they obviously haven’t had a plan for years?

Was it a big surprise that gas prices went up and their products were gas guzzlers? Was it a big surprise that they built copycat vehicles to compete with Honda and Toyota instead of differentiating themselves?

GM and Chrysler have been clueless for the last 20 years. What’s either of their branding stand for? If Volvo equals safety what does GM and Chrysler stand for? Nothing.

Then factor in the unions. What role did they play in destroying the American car maker? So here’s what you have. A company sucked dry from the unions (Obama supports these guys so it’s not their fault), with no vision or brand identity that’s somehow in trouble? There is only one solution for these brands.

Let them die. Before you know it we’ll see new, exciting brands pop up. They will most likely be niched brands that will differentiate themselves. Maybe we’ll get an automaker that just makes electric cars? Who knows but it’s time to let capitalism shine.

The last thing I want my president doing is acting as a CMO!

Wisconsin paid $50,000 for this logo and tagline…

The tagline has been used many times over with other companies.? Read about that here. Why use and pay for a tagline that clearly does not differentiate but instead puts you right in the middle of the pack? And what are your thoughts of the logo? Worth 50K?

Is this a brand extension from hell or what?

All the fuss has died down on Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae book so I thought now would be a good time to chat on it.

The book is very easy to read and I liked how he wrote in 1-2 page chapters. Made it very easy to follow along. His explanation of new marketing was on target.

Here’s what was missing… Branding. Nothing really ever mentioned on how companies can translate new marketing into a big picture branding strategy. After all new marketing is really just a bunch of tactics. Write a blog, build a forum etc. All of these are mere tactics. How do they translate to and interact with a companies brand identity?

I also felt that Seth was somewhat?harsh on traditional media. He lumps TV advertising into one bin and says it’s done. And although I do agree to some extent I also believe that GREAT, targeted?TV Advertising works exceptionally well. And here’s where the rub is…Permission Marketing.

Seth believes that interrupting consumers is bad, hence his disdain for spam, tv commercials, radio ads etc. Whereas I believe that consumers expect interruption but because it’s generally bad they despise it. But I also believe that good, targeted interruption can be very beneficial. Here’s an example:

Say I have a great diabetes?cereal product like Glucerna (http://glucerna.com/product/cereal.aspx), a well targeted email campaign to people with diabetes could be very helpful. Is it Spam? Technically, yes. But it will be of serious help to this targeted list. Will they see it as an interruption? I don’t think so. I have diabetes and saw Glucerna’s TV commercial and immediately went to their website to learn more.

So I do feel like there is a grey area to Permission Marketing. What are your thoughts?