Against all odds, Buick to say: "Take a look at me now"
Surviving the initial bankruptcy shakedown, yet still struggling to stay afloat, the Buick division of General Motors is introducing a new advertising campaign starting this weekend - adding to the handful of all-new campaigns it has launched since 2002. The new offensive, aimed directly at the intended audience of baby-boom drivers, carries the theme "Take a look at me now."
Before you start humming that familiar Phil Collins song, GM wants to assure all of us that we are heading down the wrong path. After all, Mr. Collins actually named his hit "Against All Odds" (and it served as the title song for an Eighties movie bearing that same name). This is a different agenda, unrelated to the song, conceptualized by the company's hired ad agency to drive traffic into the showrooms and get warm bodies behind the wheel. This campaign delivers a pointed approach, says GM. We'll buy it... until they tell us next year's ad campaign is "Take me home."
[Source: The New York Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
andre lavoie 3:54PM (6/14/2009)
Not particularily a line up worth bragging about. The Lacrosse has promise but is as of yet untested in the market, the Enclave is a relatively successful crossover, and the Lucerne is argueably a sedan that is past its prime (or never had a prime). Call back later Buick when you have a lineup that is far more note worthy.
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tuxchown 4:33PM (6/14/2009)
I have rented the Lucerne and it's a very nice, comfortable and economical to drive car (I measured 32 MPG highway). I have owned three used Buicks and they have always been solid and reliable, if unremarkable cars. Mom owns a 2008 LaCrosse and it's a wonderful car. They're comfortable, powerful, economical and reliable transportation. That's what most Americans want anyway. More people would do well to look into a Buick.
jsjs 5:50PM (6/14/2009)
While a limited lineup (altho, it is a niche near luxury brand), such descriptions wouldn't be out of place for Toyota's more extensive line-up (albeit the Buicks are better-looking).
Tool 6:32PM (6/14/2009)
There are a number of problems with this campaign.
1. The new LaCrosse isn't even available yet.
2 It's kind of premature to be trumpeting the horn when GM is still in bankruptcy
3. You can only do this "take another look at us" pitch so many times before it becomes complete uncredible.
Buick should have waited. I know they want to make the pivot but until GM successfully exits C11, all this is way too early.
Focus on GM. The corporate campaign is good. "Leaner. Greener. Faster. Smarter."
andre lavoie 6:51PM (6/14/2009)
Bankruptcy aside, with three models and only one that has been proven successful, this is not the time to say "Hey, look at me now!" Considering the competition (Lexus, Infiniti, etc), whose lineups speak for themselves, it's only all the more reason for Buick not to toot its own horn, right now at least.
chconline 6:57PM (6/14/2009)
As far as near luxury goes, it's the cars and brand identity goes. Most people would rather have an Acura than a Buick.
jpm100 11:28PM (6/14/2009)
"It's kind of premature to be trumpeting the horn when GM is still in bankruptcy"
"Buick should have waited. I know they want to make the pivot but until GM successfully exits C11, all this is way too early.
Focus on GM. The corporate campaign is good. "Leaner. Greener. Faster. Smarter."
Disagree. I'm with those that say its time for GM to forget the "My bad" corporate campaign and the guilt complex as it just keeps reopening an old wound that will never heal anytime soon and time to focus on product.
Harley Cook 10:36AM (6/15/2009)
Who is Buick really trying to compete with?
larry a 3:23PM (6/16/2009)
Good question, they're competing with Hyundai. Particularly the Genesis..
Smegley 3:54PM (6/14/2009)
Actually, "everything I thought about rule of law just went boom" when the Holy Office Of The Dictator stole GM, robbed taxpayers to lube it up, and then paid off His political cronies with the result while dismissing business laws in the process.
As a result, Buick can advertise all they want but I will never look at them or any GM again. Which is too bad, really, because GM does have cars I like, but buying any of them means to support federal theft and lawlessness at a grand level, which flies in the face of anything decent and ethical.
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Nick Vrana 4:06PM (6/14/2009)
Yay! Let's all boycott a company that owes us money, that'll show them!
Rob Roland 4:08PM (6/14/2009)
Yawn.
I suppose we should have let them file chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. Watch the jobs go. Watch what little manufacturing we have left in this country go. You like bread lines and soup kitchens, don't you?
Sure, blame Obama and the administration for doing something about it. Don't blame GM for ruining themselves. Clearly you have a better plan - let's hear it.
David 4:24PM (6/14/2009)
The UAW destroyed GM. Period!!!
boost4 4:35PM (6/14/2009)
"As a result, Buick can advertise all they want but I will never look at them or any GM again."
Wow, nice preemptive strike against the progressive machine there Shmegma. Obama and his henchmen will really have to re-think this socialist plot of theirs, because out of the 10 more autos or so you'll buy in your life, none of them will be GM products. Way to hold this corporation responsible for their transgressions. You and everyone's crazy uncle who listens to AM radio will turn this market around for us, won't you?
tuxchown 4:36PM (6/14/2009)
"The UAW destroyed GM. Period!!!"
That's the biggest load of bullsh!t I've read all day.
Smegley 4:54PM (6/14/2009)
Here you go Nick Vrana and Rob Rowland - I redid the ad to reflect your flawed viewpoints:
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k148/WaaaaHoooo/autos/NewBuickAd.jpg
Redline 5:28PM (6/14/2009)
You would do well at the "Iliketowhineaboutpoliticslikealittlegirl" blog.
jsjs 6:12PM (6/14/2009)
It seems smegley has quite the SELECTIVE memory.
I, otoh, seem to recall that it was Bush/Paulson who formulated the plan for the $700 billion+ TARP bailout, including the $13.4 billion which they announced would go to GM and Chrysler back in DECEMBER of 2008.
I guess it was Obama who forced Bush/Paulson to do that, much less give hundreds of billions to the Wall St. banks, commercial banks, insurance companies to AIG (or apparently force BoA to buy Merrill Lynch) w/o any restrictions or guidelines on the use of the $$$.
And I guess it would have been just better for GM and Chrysler to go into Ch.7 liquidation than have the companies reorganize into smaller and more efficient companies (btw, Cheney already stated that Bush, aside from the $13.4 billion in emergency aid, basically punted the decision for Obama's admin to handle - yeah, that's "great" leadership).
Instead of blaming Obama for actually doing something, maybe you should blame Bush (for doing nothing except for approving billions in loans), the GM/Chrysler execs (for being short-sighted and running the companies into the ground; blame also should go to the unions which were stubbornly holding on to benefits which no longer made GM competitive) and...
Phil Gramm and the rest of the Wall St. connected politicos who DEREGULATED the banking and commodities markets so that Wall St. firms and banks could take huge GAMBLES (leveraging themselves up the wazhoo in the process) on risky financial derivative instruments like credit default swaps - which blew up in their faces and caused the breakdown of the banking system and the resulting credit crunch which ultimately put the last dagger into GM and Chrysler (Ford would have been in the same shoes if they hadn't astutely or luckily gotten an extension of a credit line of tens of billions before the credit market crashed; and may very likely follow GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy next year if the auto market doesn't turn around).
gefinley 3:57PM (6/14/2009)
God they are desperate. The only thing going "boom" is the shotgun in their own mouth.
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Matt 4:24PM (6/14/2009)
Yeah...what were Buick sales in China again???