Update: Tiger Woods and Buick

When's Tiger gettin' the Buick golf bag back?

Be bold and get Tiger involved with the Volt.

Truth be told, being branded with Buick actually detracts from Tiger's image. Every time I see one of your Buick ads featuring him, I have to stretch my imagination to believe that one the richest athletes and celebrities in the word would actually be driving and hawking a Buick.

The only connection I could ever make is that many golf playing, country-club types drive Buick-like cars and you must think Tiger will make your Buicks more attractive to that market segment. Those drivers are usually well heeled, but to be honest, do you think successful businessmen, insurance salesmen, Rotary Club members, etc. will actually be swayed by a hired celebrity you've payed to drive the car you want them buy?

V/R

Gary Dikkers

Sorry, but who exactly cared about that???

Boring endorsements for a boring line of vehicles- at least the North American models (Buicks for China, that is another story).

How GM thought somebody my age would buy a GMX365 is beyond me- and I am a GM fan, love most of the new stuff...

ZZZzzzzz

I have great respect for Tiger Woods. However, the car should be the star.

If GM is to "break-away" from the pack like Dell did in the past & Apple is now, they need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing & advertising dollars.

I would drop all the celebs, sports venue advertising, billboards, TV, and advertising firms. Cut the whole budget except a focused Internet team. Throw out the old school marketing books.

Shift all those HUGH marketing & advertising dollars from all divisions. Put 50% towards vehicle price cuts, 25% towards product development, and the remaining amount to the internet team & dealer support.

Branding is all about trying to get premium pricing for something not worth the price. Advertising is all about increasing sales volume. Well, your branding & advertising dollars is not accomplishing that. Even if you disagree with my branding & advertising definition, you will agree that your $$$ thrown at marketing & advertising is not delivering.

VALUE + QUALITY + MUST HAVE will win if you get the product in front of them. You need gimmicks to get people into the dealer showrooms or other venues.

Personal GM email for everyone is a start...Google email is a pain because it groups messages. Other have a poor interface.
At the bottom of the email it would have a short 5 to 20 word message with a link. Not intrusive, but your would be bouncing around to everyone.

Can anyone at GM give us the latest on the Camaro? What point in the Camaro's pre-production life is it at right now? How 'bout the new Malibu? When are we going to see them in dealers? I want to drive one.

That Enclave is great, but really, GM, you don't need Tiger Woods to sell it. Quite honestly, you need Tiger to sell the REST of the Buick line.

I've always been a Lexus person when it comes to small and mid-size SUVs. The Enclave is the first car out of America, whether it's GM, Ford, or Chrysler, that can compete with the RX330/RX350 (which I have long considered the benchmark in this class).

Good job GM.

It's been over a month, WHERE'S BOB??????

Ouch that formatting is taking some getting used to. Can we get better delineation for each comment?

Tiger was and is an excellent spokesman for our vehicles. He's a great guy, a great golfer and he has some incredible character in his family. He helping everyone understand what OnStar is will help that brand to continue their growth.

As long as Buick is making cars as ugly as the Lacrosse, there isn't a celebrity in the world that could convince me to buy one. Get better designs and the cars will sell themselves.

When better cars are built. Buick will build them.

For years and years that was Buick's motto -- and it seemed to work. What happened?

To tell you the truth, I would rather see a marketing campaign explaining why a Buick is a better car, rather than for you to pay a super-rich athlete millions to try and sway people to buy the brand.

I read in one the Detroit newspapers that you pay Tiger Woods $8,000,000 a year to pitch Buicks. Are you getting your money's worth? Probably not since Buick sales have declined 67% since 1986, and your Tiger campaign hasn't stopped the slide.

I have great respect for Tiger as an athlete and golfer, but that doesn't mean I'm going to buy (or even consider) a car just because you pay him to endorse it.

When I buy a car, it's because of how I evaluate the car against my needs and how much money I can spend, not because of a celebrity endorsement. In fact, I can't think of anybody in the world whose endorsement would convince me to buy a car if I didn't think that car represented quality and value for money.

You must do surveys and collect data on the results of your marketing schemes, so tell me, how many people who buy Buicks tell you they bought them because you hired Tiger Woods as a pitchman? (My guess is very few.)

I'd much rather see an ad with a guy in a white lab coat telling me why your Buick is actually a better car. Tell me things such as:

That is the type of things I'd like to know before I buy a car, but I learn none of that from one of your Tiger Woods ads.

Please just go back to:

When better cars are built. Buick will build them.

Here's my suggestion: Instead of giving Tiger $8,000,000 each year, use that money for R&D so you can actually make your Buicks live up to that famous motto.

Best Regards,

Gary Dikkers

By the way, just to add fuel to one of my previous comments, the Efijy got NA concept of the year. What else is it going to take for you guys to realize if put into production, it would be a pop phenomenon. You claim you want to stop Buicks old driver reputation, but the only way to do that is to be BOLD! You are not going to break a 30 year reputation with the mundane.

Thanks Frank

For not forgetting what is important.

If I sold bread or milk it is all about freshness.

If we sell cars it is all about freshness in design.

And there is nothing out there more fresh, new, or exciting than the Holden FJ Efijy.

It's true, GM's product portfolio is on par with the competition with its newest offerings like the Hummer H3, Buick Enclave, Saturn Aura and Solstice to name a few. But if it wants to transcend the competition, if it wants to go places where they can never go and never be equal then the Efijy is the way to go.

Buick supposed to be competing with Lexus according to GM's recent statements. As far as design nothing from Lexus whether on sale or concept, nothing that they rendered on paper or computer yet holds a candle to the Efijy design.

The Efijy encompasses heritage and emotion, something that Lexus never had, can never translate and can never copy.

Of course we will not know for a while if GM is developing a Buick fast coupe along the lines of the Efijy but I was heartened to hear from the rumor mill that a Buick coupe or coupes will return to the lineup at long last.

Isn't it funny that the brand with the boldest and most beautiful luxury coupes, the Efijy (this Australian Holden translate to Buick in the U.S.) and Velite has none? I expect that to change soon.

In short...

I am the first member of the Holden FJ Efijy never forget fan club dedicated to the model's design language surviving eternally in the Buick showroom.

Long live the Efijy, Buick, and GM, that car company that brought us the greatest automotive design heritage ever to touch the planet.

Make no mistake the Efijy is our last great hope to escape the attack of the clones. It's the automotive equivalent of Rocky Road, and Ben and Jerry ending the era of vanilla sky.

Ed, I could not agree with you more.

I'll add that I, too, would like to hear something from Mr. Lutz. It's been a while. We all know he's busy, but we really want to know what's up with the REAL cars - Camaro, G8, Malibu, CTS.

Did I mention I'd like to know what's going on with my Camaro? :)

p.s. - With the new Transformers movie coming, I think GM is going about it all wrong in the advertising dept. Isn't it about time to sneak a few hints and teasers about the Camaro in Chevy adds since it's going to be in the movie? All I've seen in your adds is some dude acting more frightened than his girlfriend when a Deceptacon destroys his Cobalt. Any guy who really acts like that probably isn't dating a female, and if it were me, I'd be happy someone destroyed my Cobalt - so I could file a lawsuit and buy a Camaro :)

Well hello. There you are. I've been worried.

Cindy, 6/22, 11:37 PM:

You took the words right out of my mouth. Thank you.

John, 6/24, 4:04 PM:

I think Cindy's comment applies perfectly to the presence or absence of Lutz as well.

When was the last time you saw a great car from Detroit. One that you had to have. As a 50 year old baby boomer it was over 37 years ago. Buick does not need Tiger Woods, it needs the great designers of the 50s and 60s. My dad always drove Buicks until 1980 and now drives Mercedes. Everytime I rent a Buick, I go, big deal, nothing special. Detroit is stupid, they think we buy cars based on Advertising. Lets remember the Honda commercials from the superbowl: best cars, best maintenance records, highest best fuel economy, highest resale value, best crash tests, etc etc.... Lets see the GM Commercials - Hummers (overgrown suburbans) can go anywhere - NO they can't - they are made for suburbia. Another GM commercial - guys getting naked and rubbing themselves all over the car. Dumb Dumb and Dumber. Make a great car and people will buy it. It has been over 30 years of decline for the US automotive companies. When are they going to get it. It is NOT advertising. It is GREAT Car Design.

Can someone please send links to pictures from the paparazzi with Tiger Woods driving a Buick.

As Gary Dikkers writes "Truth be told, being branded with Buick actually detracts from Tiger's image. Every time I see one of your Buick ads featuring him, I have to stretch my imagination to believe that one the richest athletes and celebrities in the word would actually be driving and hawking a Buick."

I agree with Gary. Personally I'm not that enamored with Tiger Woods, sure he is a great golfer, but I'm not connecting his visibility with GM success or raising the cache' of GM. I'm not a marketing expert for sure, but I don't really see the value in having Tiger Woods to begin with, and I'm more unsure about the value of his expanded role in promoting GM. I just don't see the connection or value in it.

Eric

I saw a new Buick ad today. I was at a restaurant and it was hard to hear, but it had no Tiger Woods and it featured one of the interior designers and appealed more to the luxuriousness of the interior and the overall car going along with other things the person wore when he went out. I'd have to see it again to know if I like it, but it definitely does a better job of making you feel that the Enclave is a true luxury car than a golfer, no matter how good he is at the game.

The Efigy is cool to be sure, but it is a specialty vehicle not destined ot sell mnay and would be a mistake to produce. There are alternatives, I suggest you look at www.n2amotors.com at their Buick themed C6 based sports car under "Wildcat". They also have made drawings of a full line of Buicks using that style. I'd like to hear what others think of it, after all it's my company.

IN advertising the important thin gto tell the customer is the BENEFITS of purchasing/owning an item. Tiger Woods appearing in the ads does not do that nor does any celebrity. If you feel you need a cleebrity to sell your car, then something is wrong with the car. The car and its benefits must sell the car.

Would someone please send a real picture of Tiger Woods driving a Buick in real life. I do not believe that he actually drives a Buick.

Bradely said:

Would someone please send a real picture of Tiger Woods driving a Buick in real life. I do not believe that he actually drives a Buick.

You make an excellent point Bradley. I too doubt Tiger drives a Buick when he's not representing GM as a hired pitchman.

Buick's marketing people would probably rather not know the answer, but I'd be real surprised if when Tiger makes a late night run to the mini-market to pick up some disposable diapers for their new baby, that he jumps in a Buick to do it. ;-)

Best,

Gary Dikkers

Mr Lutz, 99.9% of GM's north american customers have never heard of of Holden. The current Holden/G8 Pontiac soon to come, not quick enough if you ask me, looks alot better in it's original clothes. Why spend the money on the new facia and those phoney hood scoops? That won't make or break Pontiac. They should have already gone the way of Oldsmobile. It kinda reminds me of all that Pontiac cladding that you finally got rid of. The Commadore looks simple, refreshing and crisp. Why ruin a good thing?