GM to Put Logo on its Vehicles–Jonathan Munk
Two months ago, General Motors announced it will be putting the GM corporate logo on its vehicles starting in 2006, starting with the Pontiac G6. Eventually the logo will adorn each of GM’s eight brands–Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Hummer, Saturn, Buick, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac. This is a huge mistake. According to a GM press release, one of the reasons they decided to put the logo on their vehicles is because people don’t normally associate a vehicles’ brand, i.e. Saturn, with the corporation, GM. But this may not be such a bad thing.
GM lost more than a billion dollars last quarter, and the company is facing more losses in the future. Their U.S. market share has decreased from 44 to 27 percent as well. The last thing they should be wanting to do is help people make an association between a struggling company and their new Corvette.
And what about all the money GM has spent trying to distinguish and position its several brands? Putting the logo on all GM vehicles puts them all on the same plane, which customers don’t necessarily want. I found some interesting feedback about this branding decision on GM’s own blog (GM Fastlane):
Said one blogger:
“You don’t see a DaimlerChrysler emblem on the side of a Mercedes, a Toyota emblem on a Lexus, or a Ford emblem on a Jaguar or Land Rover.
GM is NOT a brand, don’t throw away all of your brand capital you have struggled to build.”
I agree. I would never want my $80,000 Cadillac XLR to have the same logo as a measley Saturn costing less than $16,000. Another interesting quote:
“It will hurt sales, it will hurt owner loyalty and create more criticism than acceptance…Brand individualism is key if you want to survive. Stick to originality…and cut it out with the badging.”
The truth is people probably don’t care all that much about GM even though they might feel strongly about one of their brands. When you purchase Tide to do your laundry, do you know who the parent company is? (Its Procter & Gamble, by the way). But does that matter? Most people simply want their clothes clean, and they know Tide will do it. You don’t need to see a P/G logo on the package to realize the detergent will work. Most people don’t have any strong ties to the company anyway. The same goes for GM.
Despite negative reaction and concern about brand individualism, GM is going forward with this plan. We’ll just have to see what happens…
April 2nd, 2007
With logo looks better.,
May 21st, 2007
Leave the GM logo off.
April 23rd, 2010
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September 18th, 2010
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September 28th, 2011
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October 1st, 2011
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