If you’ve been reading the papers or watching TV, it would be hard to have missed the debacle that is one-third of what was once Detroit’s Big Three, Chrylser Corporation. There’s a lot at play here – the ObamaNation putting it’s thumb on the scales to tip them in favor of the unions (in a REAL bankruptcy, union contracts are immediately held null and void, as are pension funds and other benefits), the idea that bond holders should head to the back of the line, the giveaway to Fiat (they aren’t BUYing anything…just taking what’s left of Chrysler as a favor).

What amazes me, however, is that the media – on both the left AND the right – is confused about why Chrysler (or let’s get real: The Treasury Dept.) wants to can almost 800 loyal ChryslerCo dealers today.

First, a couple of disclaimers – my wife and I both drive Jeeps, I’m a big fan of the Wrangler, and I used to work for an agency that did ads for car dealers, exclusively.

Congressmen, pundits and TV talking heads are all up in arms about the dealer bloodletting, claiming there’s no reason to kill off dealerships, and that “fewer dealers means fewer sales.”

Balderdash. Read the rest of this entry »

News item:

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Obama Halves Chrysler’s Planned Marketing Budget

Task Force Agrees Automaker Needs Advertising — Just Not $134 Million Worth

By Jean Halliday

Published: May 11, 2009

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — Chrysler wanted to spend $134 million in advertising over the nine weeks it’s expected to be in bankruptcy — the U.S. Treasury’s auto-industry task force gave it half that.

So if GM, which is wrestling with the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing itself, is wondering how much influence the task force will have over marketing, the answer is: plenty. However, transcripts from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York, where the Chrysler case is being heard, proved for the first time that the task force at least understands that advertising is a necessary expense — even if it doesn’t think Chrysler needs $134 million for nine weeks of car ads. (continued after link)

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So it’s come to this. Anything worth managing is worth MICROmanaging – at least in the ObamaNation. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeep. There's Only One.

And then there were two. ChryCerebus has turned the page to Chapter 11 (as opposed to turning the corner), and what’s left looks a lot like Crissis-ler. The conventional wisdom is that Chrysler is toast (the brand, not the company), Dodge is on the bubble, and Jeep is the only brand that has actual worth in a Detroit-style fire sale. Fair enough. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that, with the bankruptcy, Chrysler is able to shed it’s legacy costs and indentured servitude to the unions union contracts, and can either move forward as a leaner, meaner company, or sell its assets in liquidation. With the Chrysler brand D.O.A., and Dodge coughing up blood, let’s examine the best way to save Jeep, either as a stand-alone company or as something worth acquiring, and allow me make an out in left-field proposal for who should buy Jeep, wheel-lock, stock and barrel. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the deal…the Big Three are at it again. They’ve come back to the Hill, hats in hand, to try and con Congress into giving them a space at the bailout trough. So what’s changed since they were turned away and told to go back home and come up with a workable turnaround plan?

Marketing.

Yep. Ford’s chair drove all the way from Detroit to D.C. in an Escape Hybrid. Wow. There’s a PR move, if ever I’ve seen one. ‘Course, it would have been ever so much more effective if he’d done it a couple of weeks ago, instead of flying in with his corporate jet. “I just drove in from Detroit, and boy is my butt sore,” makes ever so much better a punchline than “I just flew in from Detroit, and boy is my stewardess tired.” Oh, and the Big Three CEOs have offered to take $1 a year for a salary! (No word on stock options and other incentives.) And they’ll give up the corporate jets! (Now we’re talkin’ pain!)

It’s interesting to see the Big Three get hip to appearances, and start doing something to make it at least look as if they’re trying to be contrite. Pity they didn’t come up with anything more than smoke and mirrors for a plan. Read the rest of this entry »

Cars have been much on my mind for the last few days, much like in the halls of Congress and across our great land. (For my take on what ails Detroit, please visit www.captaindigital.net and read today’s post, Motor City Madness.) But from a marketing perspective, this epic battle between Detroit’s finest and the lame duck Congress is…interesting.

What we’ve got here (with apologies to Strother Martin) is a failure to communicate…the truth.

And it’s that failure – and the framing/spin/mendacity that’s going on that is so bloody fascinating. To wit… Read the rest of this entry »