I really don't know. For a company that's just declared bankruptcy, received billions of dollars from governments across the world and is closing dealerships at an alarming rate, should they be investing in a 60 second spot with a huge North American media buy? (even though they already owe their media agency over $75 million dollars?)
When I first viewed this ad this week, it made me angry. We're not witnessing the "reinvention of GM". We're witnessing a company that failed to recognize the dramatic shift in customer desires. A management group that didn't react to cheaper competitors by building smarter, but by building bigger, less efficient cars.
Most companies would have to pay the price of going out of business. GM, with it's thousands of workers, must keep on going to keep the economy afloat. And they are being forced to make dramatic changes, I just wonder where this execution came from.
I have a feeling that it was created to help manage the negative perceptions about the company (a few that I've just shared). This spot is designed to get people thinking differently about the bad GM headlines they read every morning. GM hopes, it seems, that we will recognize that things are changing for the better and the company is going to make smart decisions in the near future - cutting down brands, building more fuel efficient cars, etc.
It just feels a bit strange and maybe slightly too soon. I've seen this spot with different groups of people and they've all had the same reaction - well that was nice. I guess I just paid for it.
I think that these perceptions will change over time and maybe GM wanted to get on the airwaves fast to move people along. But still, for a company that has just received massive amounts of public money, it seems a bit strange to be spending millions on a media buy just to tell everyone that they've changed.
We know you have.
