At a time when the nation couldn’t be more divided, a desperate General Motors has announced that right-wing talk show host, Sean Hannity, is the new face of a "patriotic" car promotion – "You’re a Great American." Sitting here in the Motor City, watching the automotive industry struggle, you have to wonder what the marketing geniuses at GM are thinking. Can’t they find famous spokespeople who exude Americana, but don’t alienate half the population?
If this were a radio station hiring Michael Moore on the one hand or Ann Coulter on the other, we’d conclude their game plan is to hyper-focus on one segment of the audience – at the expense of the other. Risky perhaps, but at least they’re making a fair percentage of listeners happy.
But when you’re General Motors, the #1 car company in North America (obviously, not for long), you have to wonder who dreamed this up, and which committee approved it. Maybe the same car geniuses who thought Celine Dion could sell Pacificas for Chrysler. And we remember how well that worked.
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This is a great move from the same GM that partnered with Oprah to give away 276 Pontiacs – https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5989964/
There is no one way to reach all consumers anymore – We in radio know that – We try to do different things to make some noise and get extra notice, and maybe some press – Promotions that touch different lifestyle groups under our respective format umbrellas everyday – Sometimes we do polarizing things or have polarizing guests on our shows (Mistress Carrie from WAAF in Iraq – Gene Simmons on the WKLH Morning Show) – Sometimes we chose a band or concert promotion that may be politically polarizing but we keep the station – Our brand – As neutral as possible and run with it anyway because of the large cume that we’re able to expose our stations to – GM is choosing sides – Left and Right, to make some noise – GM realizes because of some lousy cars they made in the 1980’s, many listeners of Sean Hannity are driving foreign cars – His show will be a great promotional “vehicle” to create some buzz for GM and get some of their cars back into the households and neighborhoods that haven’t seen many GM cars for years – Do they need to find someone on the left too ? Absolutely – And I would be willing to bet that as I write this response to you, GM’s people are pondering who that should be – The David Letterman Show ? Ellen ? They need butts in their seats from the left and the right – Hannity is a great move to the right – They chose Oprah from the left before – They’ll make some noise in that direction again – Just as we in radio will keep trying to make some noise to stay top of mind – In terrestrial radio, in our markets, in our respective formats – They’ve gotta keep making noise to rebuild cume for their brand – Just as they’re trying hard to make good quality cars that all Americans – Left and Right – Will look at, like, and purchase – Peace & Blessings – Bill O’Brien
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Bill, great to hear from you, and thanks for the thoughtful comment. You just wonder why they wouldn’t have used Alan Colmes in a spot, alongside Hannity. You know, one of those “We don’t agree on much, he’s on the left, he’s on the right – but the one thing we DO agree on is that GM makes great cars.” Your basic “less filling – tastes great” approach. It’s painful to be here in Detroit, watching friends sweating their jobs and their livelihoods, while companies like GM make marketing snafus like this one. And the longer it takes the “Shrinking 3” to figure it out, the tougher it’s going to be for Detroit/Michigan to climb out of this mess. Thanks again for contributing to the dialogue.
I don’t really see where the snafu is. Hannity has an enormous audience of men 25-54 on at least 500 radio stations throughout the country…. We’re talking 12.5 million people. We are not talking about 12.5 million republicans. Just people. People who buy cars.
Chevy needs to reach people. Hannity reachs people.
What if Chevy did a deal with Howard Stern in his terrestrial days? Would that be poorly thought out also? Howard turns off lots of women. Howard turns off lots of people. But Howard delivers an audience of people (men 25-54) who buy cars. So does Sean.
We have a progressive talk station in my cluster. Everyone is always gung ho about selling the station to Whole Foods, and using the station to sell hybrids. Here’s the shocker though:
Liberals eat pasta too. Liberals get home loans. Also, just because you listen to one brand of talk over the other, doesn’t mean you are what the content is.
I applaud Chevy for advertising to an audience that makes sense for them. Chevy’s best products are caddys and SUVs. Sean’s audience likes caddys and SUVs. Chevy’s problems came when they tried to get into the compact-no-character car business. It’s like McDonald’s selling pizza.
By the way, my family was founded on GM. We get a GM discount….and I drive a VW….but my dad, his brother, and sister all drive caddys. The problem is, they’re now out of the money demo and in “boomer purgatory” (55+). The interesting thing is, 2 out of 3 has an Ipod, 3 out of 3 have high speed internet, and 3 out of 3 have lots of disposable income and buying influence on they’re children’s and grand-children’s spending.
From where I sit, the snafu is that Chevy and most other advertisers are not reaching them, and their not demanding outlets by which to reach them.
I’m still trying to figure our Chevy’s new TV campaign. How do images of Rosa Parks, the Vietnam war and Martin Luther King sell Chevy’s?