GM set to zip toward change

Expect drastically different approach in marketing cars

By EMILY FREDRIX

AP Business Writer

Put the brakes on the apologies. Think about your brands. And give us a reason to buy your cars.

That’s what marketing gurus say General Motors Co. must do as it begins a massive overhaul of advertising worth more than $2 billion a year now that it’s out of bankruptcy protection.

Since emerging from bankruptcy court last month, GM is looking to revive sales as it focuses on its four remaining brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Experts say it has to get back to basics and tell consumers why they should choose its cars over those made by rivals like Ford, Toyota and Honda.

The company can do that, they say, by showing how its vehicles perform and by staking out stronger identities for the brands. There’s no better time than now, as thousands of Americans who normally wouldn’t be buying cars are lured into showrooms by the government’s “cash for clunkers” trade-in program, promising up to $4,500 off a car if vehicles with poor gas mileage are traded in.

GM knows it has work to do, and it assigned the job to legendary auto executive Bob Lutz, not exactly known for his marketing experience but a longtime product development chief known for his blunt style.

Lutz, now in charge of the largest U.S. automaker’s ad content, promised “quick” and “drastic” changes to GM’s tone after he took the job last month. But the company hasn’t announced its new strategy yet, other than Lutz saying he wants to position Buick as a competitor to Lexus and Cadillac to BMW.

“My top priority now is to enhance the ability of GM to let the public know about what great cars and trucks we build,” Lutz said in an online chat last month. “For all the money spent in the past, this seemingly simple task has eluded us.”

The company says it is reviewing accounts with its many ad agencies. Lutz told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the marketing revamp is well under way.

“The new stuff is in the works, and it’s great,” he wrote, though he declined to say when it would start airing.

Chances are, the company may want to do it soon so it can capitalize on “cash for clunkers,” which made last month the best for auto sales in nearly a year. Sales improved from previous months for GM, but they were still down 19 percent from the same time last year, while rival Ford Motor Co. posted a 2.4 percent increase.

Marketing hasn’t always been a problem for GM. After all, it created some of the world’s most legendary brands. Decades ago, GM’s ads helped link America’s love of cars with the Detroit automaker. A generation grew up singing “See the USA in your Chevrolet.”

with Dinah Shore in the 1950s. Decades later, the company used rocker Bob Seger’s song “Like A Rock” to sell Chevy trucks.