Webchat: Chris Preuss on Communications Strategy
Please, join us for a webchat with Chris Preuss, VP, GM Global Communications, this Wednesday, September 23 at 2 p.m. EDT to discuss GM’s communications strategy.
Preuss joined GM in 1998 as director of Cadillac communications, and has also directed GM communications for public policy, global products and brands, and product development. Most recently, Preuss led GM Europe communications and global product communications.
Looking forward to hearing from you. – Mary Henige, Director, Social Media and Broadcast Communications
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…to discuss GM’s communications strategy.
Communications strategy? Isn’t the essence of communications nothing more than communicating? Why do you need a “strategy?”
Saying you need a strategy implies you must decide how to spin things; how you will frame issues; and how you will convince people you’ve told them something when actually you’ve told them nothing.
The only communications strategy that counts is the truth — and you don’t need a “strategy” to do that.
Pontiac G8 = Buick Wildcat
Set up Fritz and/or Bob Lutz with a personal Twitter account and have them share their corporate life and maybe a little of their personal life with all that follow. Lots of company CEOs are doing that. It sets up a connection with the person and the company. It shows real people behind the the company.
I hate to be the skunk at the garden party, but that is a terrible idea. Both executives have much better things to do than to be messing with Twitter, and do you have any idea of the Pandora’s box of legal problems you would open if either was to keep up a running commentary of their corporate or private lives?
A Big Ten university close to me has already had to put a clamp on their football team’s Twitter accounts because of the legal issues it has opened up — particularly because of gamblers who were able to glean inside information on which team members were injured or in academic trouble.
Do you have any idea how some off-hand remark by Fritz or Bob could be treated as “inside information” that stock traders would have access to, and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) would jump on?
Something needs to be done about GM’s Communication strategy in advertising. Why do you continually show the competitive product in your Buick ad’s? It’s as though GM is admitting that Toyota (Lexus) is the company that GM is aspiring to become. That is a Comunications no-no, and a very flawed strategy.
Let your product speak for itself and stop giving free advertising to the competition. It is a VERY “OLD GM” way of advertising and you NEVER see top companies disparaging or comparing themselves to their competitiors. Why? Because to do so automatically pits you as second best. Why are you so set in your ways that you can’t see this?
GM needs to let customers comment on each brand and vehicle it produces.
Start at the auto show with the comments and make it a part of the vehicle launch.
Set up a PC where customers can comment at the auto show and then keep it going.
When you start hearing the customers comments about value, safety, style, performance and design you might design something that causes an increase in market share.
For too long GM has not listened to it’s customers and now those customers own vehicles from other brands. That is why market share declined.
GM has a long way to go if it wants to win those customers back.
Make a quality vehicle that offers value for the money. Has good design in interior and exterior, great fuel economy, superb electronics (think APPLE), great reliability, (think Toyota), offers an improved product with each new generation of vehicle. If you build a great car the communication will be from the customers. They will brag about GM and the vehicle.
If you build a Cimmoron, Vega, Aztec, ……..market share will decline and the communication will not be what you want.
It all starts with building a great vehicle.
@Ken–you hit the nail on the head! GM needs to build a reliable vehicle! I have a 2006 Equinox that I just spent $700 in repairs to fix a “transfer door” in a the heating unit. Unbelievable! Even the auto mechanic (ASE Certified) said “this is a not a part desinged to break…not on a vehicle this new.” I am now seeking compensation from GM.
Again, if you want to regain and increase market share, start with the basics. You’re a car company. Build a good car.
Happy customers with Quality Vehicles will be a good communication strategy.
Unhappy customers with problem vehicles is a bad communication strategy.
Quality and Value ……. Quality and Value……..
Hi Chris
I originally posted this comment to*May the Best car win* on Thursday Oct 1rst.
A portion of this note pertains to your discussion, and you might glean some info on
why some import buyers remain reluctant to visit a General Motors showroom.
With respect, I mention your name and response to a question by a reader.
Thanks
Chas
Ps…I’m surprised that you’ve not had more response(comments)to your question and answer, by major GM supporters? Your job description has to be one of *the* most important at GM, and you seem very comfortable in this role. Good for you!
[Good afternoon everyone]
[I read in this morning’s paper with interest, that Roger Penske, walks from Saturn. This is not at all surprising, considering the unimaginable capital and partnership required to run an organization, the likes of Saturn. This deal seemed doomed from the outset.
Perhaps General Motors will now examine it’s options to perhaps maintain Saturn in another--GM-- form. Saturn still has many attractive assets, including a loyal customer base, a relatively new dealer network, and cars that are seen as fuel efficient and competitively priced.(all designed in the fabled Europe)
This seemingly sad chapter for Saturn, need not be the end of the line, but rather an opportunity(read; pilot project), to get the General Motors logo onto an entire line of vehicle. And what better vehicle, with an already square logo(read; design work complete). The *Blue Square* would fit neatly on this grill and trunk lid.
As a loyal Honda customer,---my extended family(four units) has owned or leased nineteen Hondas, five Toyotas, and six Acuras since 1985, that’s a lot of loyal $--the only way I can see participating in the GM experiment, is by perhaps being offered a vehicle not laden with so much baggage. In an earlier post, I tried to convey my reaction to seeing the new Traverse in my local paper, and not seeing past the logo. That’s pretty disheartening to the many GM employees who worked long hours to get the Traverse launched.
I’m also reading of consumer confidence being a little more sluggish than previously
thought, so it’s not as if GM’s mini resurgence will continue indefinitely, and it’s about having a strong company that attracts back an old customer from years gone by. In my case, to even consider visiting a GM showroom comes down to one obstacle,a simple logo. That may seem shallow to many,but that’s the reality of brand. Given that, buying Honda was based on track record and reliability. General Motors needs something dramatic to overcome the reluctance of the very car buyer it wants to attract.
On Buick competing with Lexus, at this late stage?, it will not work. While GM brought mediocre Buick product and design to the market since 1990, Lexus worked a continuum of excellence and developed a track record. Lexus does not have substandard product sitting in driveways as reminders to the past. That illustrates the main point of all of these older vehicles, speaking on behalf of their respective brands at GM. *Cash for Clunkers* will get some of it off the street, but not in time for GM to wipe clean it’s past mistakes. It’s a leap of faith on GM’s part to say that now Buick will take on Lexus in this category. Acura is barely able to make this claim and who could dispute Acura’s track record. It’s unlikely that Lexus buyers will see the comparison. Sorry.
General Motors sends a lot of mixed messages, with numerous spokespeople showing
the internal excitement important to the new GM. In one post, Chris Preuss suggests that GM has pretty much lost a generation of customers, and would focus on young people for the emerging market. That’s an odd thing to say from the head of communications and further suggests a generation of drivers have been written off.
That might be considered pessimistic and not supportive to the new GM reality, but hard to avoid when a driver has at least twenty years of cars left to purchase or lease.
GM Admen--and women-- are busy working within the confines of what GM has set out, which is really just tweaking a formula that is multi decades old. I’m convinced GM has a big marketing problem, that dwarfs that of other carmakers. General Motors also grapples with an identity problem, also one not faced by other carmakers.
Something big, has to take place in order to break this impasse to the future.
Many good things are obviously happening,R&D, new model rollouts..etc., and especially the *conversation* aspect, but preaching only to the converted will alienate the market $, needed to post healthy financial results for the future of General Motors.
Again, I’d consider participating in this reinvention, as buying local touches every other aspect my life, but so far I remain skeptical.]
Thanks
Chas
If you want a communication strategy that works start by build ing a great vehicle at a great price.
Hyundai has gone from being a joke to a brand consumers are moving to. This was not because of a great communication strategy but it was because they started to improve their vehicles quality and value.
This is the communication strategy GM should be going for. Build the best in class at a value price point and the consumers will be your communication strategy.
Compare your vehicles to the best in class and keep improving them each year. That is what your competition is doing.
If your not gaining market share then you have not got it right.
Build the best and they will come.
Chris Preuss -
I hope you have a good talk with whomever was responsible for that Buick Lacrosse ad I saw last night while watching the Packers-Vikings game.
What about watching some dweebish-looking guy drive a Lacrosse down an urban street full of potholes is supposed to motivate me to buy a Lacrosse?
Chris,
My name is also Chris and I have been in the automotive industry for 20 years (retail). I know what they say about opinions and how everybody has one but I would love for you to contact me if you think this may be a starting point.
In the good ol’ days, we actually used to care about our front line peoples ability to sell our cars (GM’s) but as time went on and we tried to increase the bottom line by cutting “expenses”, the manufacturer’s stopped all the functions that made the staff bleed “GM blood” – face to face sales training, and proper ride and drives. The last sales training GM gave me was a guy that couldn’t sell a dehydrated man a glass of water via the GM Pro satellite broadcast.
I’m in your corner but GM has not been reinvented, they continue to copy product ie. the ALL NEW Terrain and the ALL NEW equinox…same crap different wrapper and when I talk to staff at the dealer level, they aren’t allowed to drive it! On top of that they can’t tell you anythning about it and have zero walkaround skills. If your front line salespeople aren’t excited about the New GM and the new product, the buying public surely won’t be excited.
There are so many things, but I remember when sales guys would defend their manufacturer until the death! Now you don’t have the loyalty of the sales staff never mind the consumer.
In closing, they should also get rid of stuff like OnStar, oil life monitoring….that stuff just adds to cost.
gm sucks. its the worst car company ever. i am ending my tahoe lease and trying to get into another product, and gm is so sideways in their bk filing that they can’t recognize the pull ahead program or any other incentives. your advertising is plainly false. with a credit score higher than fritz’s, its ridicilous that you guys remain in business. you are not deserving of our tax dollars
Where are the GM vehicles???
What are we communicating to the public?
Where are the GM vehicles ??
This sends a communication message to the public!
Fuel Economy Leaders: 2010 Model Year
Fuel Economy Leaders
Rank Manufacturer/Model MPG city/highway
1 Toyota Prius (hybrid) 51/48
2 Ford Fusion Hybrid FWD
Mercury Milan Hybrid FWD 41/36
3 Honda Civic Hybrid 40/45
4 Honda Insight (hybrid) 40/43
5 Lexus HS250h (hybrid) 35/34
6 Nissan Altima Hybrid 35/33
7 Ford Escape Hybrid FWD
Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD
Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD 34/31
8 Smart fortwo Cabriolet (automatic)
Smart fortwo Coupe (automatic) 33/41
9 Toyota Camry Hybrid 33/34
10 Lexus RX450h (hybrid, 2WD) 32/28
For more information, contact us at omscfeis@epa.gov.
The Top Ten Cash for Clunkers New Cars:
1. Ford Focus
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Corolla
4. Toyota Prius
5. Ford Escape
6. Toyota Camry
7. Dodge Caliber
8. Hyundai Elantra
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevy Cobalt
Where are the GM vehicles on this list.
OH ! number 10
Once again customers have voted and GM’s share of this market declined/
Below Average quality ratings are not acceptable!
What comes after bankruptcy? If you keep loosing market share then what?
I do not feel a sense of urgency in GM to get it right and compete on quality.
You are talking the talk but not walking the walk.
These quality ratings will be the death of GM. FIX IT!
Quality Survey is out -
Results are:
General Motors products are rated as “inconsistent.”
The Chevy Malibu V-6 was the ONLY GM product rated above average.
20 GM products were rated AVERAGE.
27 were rated BELOW AVERAGE.
The Consumer Report ratings are based on more than one million reports from owners asked about major failures and repairs to their vehicles over the previous three years.
Sounds like Quality is still an issue for GM
Average and below average are a hard sell.
What is GM’s plan to improve on these results for next year?
What is being done to review the survey results and locate each of the “problems” and work for a solution?
Chri Preuss: Your headline: “18 to 30 year olds are our future” caught my attention more than you know!!! Well! I guess someone like me is being wrtitten off in your book and if you have anything to do with it,also G.M.’s book. Not 18—- Not 30, or in between. I happen to be 62 with quite a few good years of purchasing vehicles ahead of me, God willing.. Just to let you know I am not dead at 62. I happen to own a 2001 Harley Davidson dresser,
a 2007 Lincoln Mark LT truck, a 2009 Saturn Sky Redline, and a 2010 Ford Escape Limited.
I guessI have my share of vehicles and toys,But apparently the likes of you does not want my business. Actually that is easy to remedy. I can buy all of my vehicles/toys from another manufacturer in the future. Thank you for your article, it was very enlightening. And to let you know, in the past most/all of my vehicles were G.M. —Riveria’s, Regal,Reatta,S-10,Century.Mostly switched to Ford products because for some reason the Ford Dealerships made you feel welcome and that you were doing them a favor for purchasing their product,not the other nway around.
The one exception was the Saturn Dealer. Now I must say, they actually made you feel like family.And to think G.M. is dumping them.And also to let you know the Deales is Saturn of Middleburg Hts. OHIO. Everyone there was fantastic to me and my wife. Very sorry to see them go….
Thank you for your time.