ISSUE 250 : Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The reason why; it's just too damn big. If anybody needed a crash course in Adaptive Branding it is "Generally Moribund." But that's what everybody is saying. In a recent article in Automotive News, Mike Jackson, who left GM two years ago after seven years as head of marketing, pulled no punches in a recent guest column in Automotive News entitled "GM Must Overhaul Marketing."

In an interview with Advertising Age elaborating on the column, Mr. Jackson, now a partner in digital agency SarkissianMason, New York, said the automaker's U.S. operations have too many layers for approval of marketing ideas. During his tenure at the automaker, Mr. Jackson said that "there were no meetings where people just sat down, had a discussion and made a decision".

Mr. Jackson also was critical of GM for putting engineers and finance people with no marketing training in key marketing positions. All of this adds up to "ho-hum work" being perpetuated throughout the product development and marketing process.

Fritz Henderson thinks so, and is determined to prove that his 25 years with General Motors is an asset, not a liability, as he tries to lead a turnaround at the auto giant. Mr. Henderson, 50, became G.M.'s chief executive after his boss and mentor, Rick Wagoner, was forced out in March by President Obama's special auto task force, according to the New York Times.

Since then, Mr. Henderson has been trying to overcome any perceptions that he cannot make the tough changes G.M. needs to survive. G.M. historically has rarely fired or forced senior executives out, preferring to move them into smaller roles or usher them quietly into retirement, according to the Times. "We need a simpler structure," Mr. Henderson said. "You're going to see fewer familiar faces around here."

For Mr. Henderson, the clock is running on whether he can prove he can lead G.M. to prosperity. Ultimately, that will be decided by consumers and whether they buy the G.M. vehicles that the company has promised to improve.

In the short term, Henderson will have to impress G.M.'s new majority owner -- the federal government -- and a revamped board. If the current "Reinvention" corporate mia culpa campaign is any indication of this new thinking, we will be watching the sun set on America's largest corporation.

The work I was engaged in at Wells, Rich, Green during the early 1980s had many of the same marching orders. Ford was loosing a million ollars a day on its domestic automotive business. But our "Quality Is Job 1" campaign rose to the occasion and was credited by Ford CEO, Phillip Caldwell as "pulling us back from the edge" with the American automotive market.

Now I have no intention of adding to the Greek Chorus that has been throwing mud on the Duetch-created "Reinvention" work. The work speaks for itself.

But I will say this as a GM shareholder and Corvette owner; confidence is low.

So just like I did when my Coca-Cola shares started swirling down the porcellin bowel that is Wall Street, I intend to do my share to move the needle. Our "Cool American" campaign made the New York Times and put this publication on the map. So if you can hook 'em once, you should be able to hook 'em twice.

The big diff between the Coke campaign and attacking the issues surrounding GM is that the Vampire Brainiacs at IAPIA are a lot smarter than my hard-drinking Hollywood DoubleThink buddies who were throwing together ad-hoc campaigns like "Cool American" at the drop of an RFP.

As an IAPIA project we have a lot more resources to draw on. But enough of a build up. Take a look for yourself. Visit http://WeOwnGM.com and share some of that brilliance of yours for a worthy cause. The survival of the last living, breathing dinosaur.