GMC Must Die

It’s been a widely-shared opinion among TTAC’s writers for some time that GM should have used its bailout and bankruptcy to cuts its brand portfolio to Chevrolet and Cadillac. We’ve already sussed out the negative side effects of trying to hold onto the Buick-GMC dealer net, the biggest of which is that without Pontiac, Buick is being forced into volume-chasing. With the debut of the Granite “Urban Utility Concept,” we’re seeing the same brand-diluting volume-hunting taking place at the “Professional Grade” brand. GM’s attempt to bring more youth and volume to its GMC brand is starting with a Youtube-heavy, family-oriented marketing campaign, pointing the way for the brand to betray its “Professional Grade” raison d’etre. But GM’s marketing plan for the Gamma (Aveo)-based Granite will be the final nail in the brand’s coffin. Because to save the brand, GM must destroy the brand.

Steve Rosenblum, Buick-GMC’s director of advertising and promotions tells Automotive News [sub] that the Granite will be so different from GMC’s past products that:

If GMC produces the Granite or a similar vehicle, it would target a new audience — people 35 or younger. That might mean no TV commercial or no use of GMC’s well-regarded tag line “Professional Grade,”

Here’s the thing: if GMC doesn’t mean “Professional Grade,” what the hell does it mean? The short answer is that it reverts back to being a rebadge brand. And for what? It’s not as if GM’s 2012 lineup is going to be short on compact CUVs. Instead, GMC is going to be GM’s marketing lab, a place to experiment with new marketing techniques that are novel for the sake of novelty, having nothing to do with GMC’s traditional buyers.

Rosenblum’s team has developed a brochure with bar-code-type designs called quick response codes that smart phones can read. Phones scan the codes and point consumers to Web pages that give details on the Granite’s features, offer opportunities for social networking and discuss designers’ inspirations for the concept.

GMC’s “Professional Grade” already rings hollow, ignoring workmanlike touches like hose-out interiors and tool storage in favor of ugly restylings and lots of tech toys. Keeping the sub-brand Denali trim has already confused the brand’s image by going for an older, more luxury-seeking consumer. Remaking GMC as a youth-oriented consumer brand will only accelerate the brand’s decline (sales down 30 percent last year) and create a third rail for a brand that is already trying to do “luxury truck” and “professional grade.”

The antidote to GMC’s brand positioning flailing can be found at (surprise, surprise) Chevrolet and Cadillac. AN [sub] reports that Chevrolet’s new ad campaign, set to roll out in February, rejects GM’s usual addiction to constant brand repositioning to align with marketers’ lifestyle-of-the-moment. Instead of replacing the “American Revolution” tagline, Chevy will use the brand name as a tag at the end of the commercials. In short, the focus is on the product, an approach that’s also taking hold at Cadillac. We need more than just great TV, we have to turn down the lifestyle and, I think, more definitely articulate the [vehicle] attributes,” says Cadillac’s Brian Nesbitt.

Of course, without the kind of unique products that Chevy and Cadillac enjoy, it’s a lot harder for GMC to sell that kind of product-focused marketing. After all, what can you say (favorably) about a Terrain that you can’t say about an Equinox? Which, in a nutshell, is why GMC needs to go.