Thursday, February 01, 2007

Saturn should looks inside

Do you remember the story of Tim Jackson's Saturn, the car which stop itself in the middle of the streets, etc.

Do you remember the poor response from the car dealer and the manufacturer?

Do you remember the buzz going around the blogosphere?

Well Saturn took a bold move and fired the ad agency.
Account was moved by Goodby to Deutsch without a review and the given reason is that sales of GM's Saturn brands were flat or only up slightly in 2006, and the inability of Goodby's campaigns to raise those numbers were likely a major factor in losing the account.

Gentlemen at GM and Saturn, are you really confident that changing the ad agency will move sales if you do not look into yourself? Or maybe it was the easiest thing to do, transferring the responsibility outside the company?


5 comments:

Gavin Heaton said...

Nice follow-up G!

You are spot on ... it is so much easier to point the finger at someone else rather than do the hard work of self examination. But then, perhaps if the Agency had engaged in the debate we generated, then the result COULD have been different.

gianandrea said...

gavin, outsourcing the responsibility is one of the favourite game in today business world.

Anonymous said...

Gianandrea,

This is a typical reaction from American car manufacturers. If the cars are crap or service stinks, fire the ad agency. Get a clue GM. The problem exists within your company, not within your marketing campaign.

Mack Collier said...

Agreed G, great followup. Gavin I believe GM's Fastlane blog has been very-well received, so why aren't they extending blogging to all their brands?

Communicating with Tim and engaging bloggers WOULD have definitely helped.

Tim Jackson said...

BUT... would having the agency play a roll in communicating with me helped? Probably not, really. GM contacting me would have been a different story.

GM needs to get a clue. Now there is talk that GM wants to buy the Chrysler business from Mercedes. Then there will be more than one American brand heading for certain death.

American car makers have been detached from reality for far too long and now they are paying the price.

Oh well... I guess I'll just buy another VW or Volvo next time.