GM's reorganizing includes TV ads pitching new beginning
— -- General Motors, now in bankruptcy reorganization, seeks to reassure car buyers and dealers it intends to emerge as "leaner, greener, faster, smarter" in TV ads that begin airing Wednesday.
"We were in limbo for the past three to four months and knew people would need assurance," says Jay Spenchian, executive director of marketing strategy. "The most important thing was to reassure and acknowledge the situation. ... This is a new beginning for GM."
The ad, using 80% existing footage to cut costs, says: "We're not witnessing the end of the American car. We're witnessing the rebirth of the American car."
GM ad spending fell from $2.8 billion in 1999 to $2.2 billion last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. And GM radically cut back this year, including dropping out of big events such as the Oscars, but would not disclose spending for 2009 or the "reinvention" program.
The campaign will use already-purchased ad time. GM also plans to follow through on launch marketing in the works for new vehicles, such as the Chevy Camaro.
The U.S. Treasury cut Chrysler's plan for post-bankruptcy ads but so far is on board with GM. "We shared with the Treasury a version of this assurance ad and the kind of money we were going to spend, and they were very supportive," Spenchian says.
TV ads will run during news and prime-time shows and the NBA Finals. An open letter from GM CEO Fritz Henderson will run in national newspapers.
The social-networking element will court younger buyers. It includes five bloggers and has had an uptick in people talking, good or bad, about GM vehicles.
"This is where the audience is and where we need to be to convince people that we are a new GM," says Christopher Barger, GM's global social-media director. "If the perception of twentysomethings is that we are a dinosaur, they won't expect us to be on Twitter."
