Chevy Branding Blanks Out

As you can see from this screen cap of Chevrolet’s website, the brand’s American Revolution is no more. The ridiculous catchphrase—applied as it was to Korean, Canadian and Mexican imports—has been replaced with . . . nothing. Niente. Nada. The big goose egg. Oh sure, there’s the “May the Best Car Win” tag line lurking beneath the fold, but that’s equally ridiculous. The best car is winning—in the only metric that means anything (sales), and it doesn’t have a bow tie on its snout. Yes, yes, it suits the suits. Just ask the guys and gals who attend GM’s death-by-PowerPoint marketing meetings, where execs who don’t mind the perception gap face . . . nothing. Niente. Nada. (Fritz will get around to the cultural change thing eventually.) Anyway, what’s next?

“I had to change up a little bit of the thought process,” Chevy brand manager Dewar boasted, in that reassuringly vague yet entirely self-important manner endemic to people who spend too much time watching PowerPoint presentations. “We will go away from our campaign ‘American Revolution’ because it doesn’t play on a global basis.”

Well, fair enough. More Chevys are sold outside the U.S. than within. But that doesn’t answer the question: what will replace the American Nationalization—I mean, Revolution?

Dewar couldn’t possibly say, you know, ahead of his Death-by-PowerPoint meetings with Chevy’s new ad agency, which GM has yet to select. Any suggestions? Oh, and despite the fact that New GM doesn’t have a new vision for Chevy, GM is about to boost the bow tie brand’s ad spend. What was it Sun Tzu said about strategy and tactics?