Brand Integrity

It is easy to point at where the Big Three automakers went wrong in terms of disconnect with customers, and the collectively many flaws in their respective brands. We can include lax ecology & conservation practices, environmental damage as result, too much reliance on dwindling resources, disrespect for workers (both domestic and foreign)—and other direct customer needs such as size, performance, quality, and economy.

Apart from a fading romance that many people have with the good old days of clean, wide open highways, big engines, hot rods, innovative style, large luxury and gas-guzzling power—a growing population in the US are starting to realize that the fun is over. These kinds of cars are now irrelevant, times have changed, and the liabilities of such vehicles far outweigh any lingering enjoyment we may have had from them in the past. Younger people are already there, and the numbers are growing who say owning a car is simply not worth the trouble (insurance, gas, accidents, parking, tickets, taxes, and so on). Japan's young folks are falling out of love with cars—or demotorizing completely. The level of young Americans demotorizing is sure to follow suit.

What is not so easy is realizing that no matter how much money we give Detroit automakers, no bailout will salvage the thoroughly disconnected relationship Ford, GM, and Chrysler have to the new world customers—without personal attachment to a personal vehicle, let alone attachment to the brands that failed to deliver solutions relevant for the current economic and mobility realities.

Even though automobile brands trump price in the hearts of consumers(1)—and is one of the few product categories to make such a claim in today's commoditized brand environment—new innovators who want to deliver modern and relevant automobiles could spell the end of Detroit's and even Japan's auto business, barring a radically different trajectory. Check out the amazing new creative mobility solutions in Eight alternatives to Detroit’s ‘Big Three’.

The problem with automakers beyond the direct disconnect with consumers? A huge lack in creativity at a time when there is also a loss of trust in the brand connection; the convergence of a very unsavory mix of brand flavors. Not only is there a lack of creativity in product & business model, but automakers are still using the same, tired, ineffective advertising tactics they have used for the past 20 years. But that is a topic for another story.

The solutions? To start with: Less reliance on overzealous market analysts (who are crunching numbers to base questionable brand, product & ad decisions on)—and less reliance on the same way of doing things. More open and meaningful dialog with customers. Creative approaches to a new set of challenges. If automakers and other kinds of companies begin to move in these directions, then they will be on a new road of engagement that will lead to success, prosperity, sustainability and increasing customer loyalty.

(1) "Save America's Dying Brands", Kevin J. Clancy, Marketing Management, Sept./ Oct. 2001, Vol. 10, Issue 3.

1952 GM Firebird I Turbine Concept Car

1950s Amphicar: a dismal failure, but an innovative creation that captured consumer's dreams.

Comments

written on 09-Jan-2009
THEARTIFACT says:
Detroit has one thing it can fall back on and that is a car Museum full of cars from our too close past! Ha! It won't be long until the cars of just this past ten years will grace it's floors as obsolete in today's generation's eyes!

I say get with the program car manufacturers and give us what we want! hybrid or electric cars that meet our needs and look great! Lets stop winning around and doing nothing! Lets get them on the road and then the car manufacturers will line their pockest once again, with the funds they have been begging our government for!

Stop complaining, get off your butts and start doing!
written on 09-Jan-2009
russell.volckmann [http://www.volckmann.com] says:
The example here is of course automakers. But the problem of decreasing customer loyalty is growing among top brands in nearly all product sectors. The underlying meaning is that companies are experiencing a convergence of negative brand influences that has never occurred in history:
written on 13-Jan-2009
russell.volckmann says:
As a followup:

From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28624970/: 2009 Detroit auto show commentary:

"This year automakers are doing all they can to paint themselves as the greenest in town. The result is a tangle of fact, fiction and flat-out lies that can be tough to decipher."
written on 14-Jan-2009
THEARTIFACT [http://www.webjam.com/theartifact] says:
People are not as innocent and un-savy as big business assumes they are. It used to be the consumer would read an ad and believe it, todays market hasan instant "knowlege" base to contend with, and thats The Net. Put any idea into the browser box and one has instant knowlege at their fingertips.

So if a car company says they're GREEN, they better be because the potential buyer will llok up the facts on them. If there is a descrepancy or a mixed message, the customer will see it right off and go someplace else.

Branding is great, but the company had better have a "clean" background and solid base to pin the branding to!
written on 14-Jan-2009
russell.volckmann says:
Sheri... That transparency and authenticity you refer to as "clean" is absolutely the underpinning of Brand 3.0 methodology & approach!
written on 21-Jan-2009
THEARTIFACT says:
Brand 3.o is awesome and the idea might be pawned off by some as idealistic, but I disagree!

Mainly because as a nation and as businesses and their relationships with consumers are changing...and fast!

President Obama stressed in his message yesterday that we are needing to start not just "fresh", but in a NEW DIRECTION! He is right. Consumers need to know integrity. They are tierd of "just believe it" mentality and they want answers!

Starting fresh means; STARTING OVER. It might mean extra work, but the rewards to being transparent to the public will be rewards in the end!
written on 26-Jan-2009
OlivierMU says:
As a European I would say that the US car makers - in addition to serious engineering and industrial weaknesses since at least 20 years - are now paying for a lack of vision and creativity, and their incapacity to refresh their brand by adopting a different philosophy, at least for a fraction of their product offering. Since 4 decades, European and then Japanese (and now even Korean) carmakers have consistently re-defined their brands by introducing new car concepts, not based on raw power and "ego-flattering macho designs". Interestingly enough the German car industry is the only one that hasn't followed this path. German carmakers have taken another approach to branding, focusing on optimizing existing concepts and pushing them to the limit in terms of design, engineering and performance (and a focus on the owner's ego). With great success. Now that the attitude of citizens towards cars are changing, the European and Asiatic carmakers are also suffering from the change but in all aspects (vision, brand, design and engineering) they are better armed than US companies - at least for the time being - to find a way out of the current crisis. Because of their traditionnal approach, German carmakers will have to adapt more (power and speed becoming less important if not totally irrelevant) but these companies have proven their capacity to do so.

When one thinks that many of the most powerful brands come from the US (in fact probably a majority), this failure of the US car industry to manage their brands is a sad mistery.
written on 01-Feb-2009
russell.volckmann says:
Oliver, thank you so much for your ideas.

I think many Americans also wonder why we have been stuck with the same motor & fuel technology virtually unchanged for 100 years. Further a mystery, is how the auto companies continue with the same tired advertising unchanged for the past 50 years or more, despite decreasing brand loyalty, and increase of people "tuning out" of their disingenuous messages.
written on 01-Feb-2009
THEARTIFACT says:
What I can't understand is why one of the major auto manufacturers doesn't just DO IT and mass produce an affordable alternative fuel car and put out some much wanedt and much needed alternative"branding" to go along with it!
If they had their finger on the pulse of their consumers they'd know the market is turning to NO LONGER RELY on foriegn fuels and instead to a more cost efficiant and cleaner form of transportational energy!!
Hello!
written on 29-Apr-2009
russell.volckmann says:
Continuing the automaker demise topic as the story develops...

"Chrysler was king of the hill with its 300 series just a few years ago. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Now the company may go bankrupt after a string of uninspired products destroyed its reputation."

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/autos/090 ... .html

You must be a member of the community to comment. Join the community or sign in if you are already a member.

Page navigation

Brand Integrity Blog » Brand Demotorization

Comments

Advertisements