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“We are counting on Susan to make a significant contribution, and I am glad to have her running this critical part of our business.” That’s what GM CEO Ed Whitacre said of appointing her to a new position, three weeks after removing her of VP of Marketing of North America position and replacing her with Joel Ewanick. Susan Docherty’s new job is one of global proportions as she takes on the role of GM International Operations Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Aftersales (which may also hold the title of the longest job title in the world).
Docherty will now report to GM International Operations president Tim Lee and will be in charge of marketing in countries such as the booming China and Brazil, as well as our own Alex Luft’s birthplace – Russia. Susan will start in her new position June 1st and will replace Don Johnson, who has yet to be announced a new role. Some insiders claim Docherty got the boot from her old position due to the negative response from Chevy’s new slogan, “Excellence for Everyone” (which has been very recently changed to a very similar “Everyone Deserves Excellence” motto).
Whatever the case may be, we still wish Ms. Docherty the best of luck and that she makes good decisions.
We have GM’s press release after the jump! (more…)
General Motors has announced that it has replaced its head of Marketing, Susan Docherty, with Joel Ewanick. Come May 24, Ewanick will become Vice President of Marketing for GM North America and report to President of GM NA, Mark Reuss.
Most recently, Ewanick was Vice President of Marketing for Nissan North America. Before joining Nissan in March, he served as VP of Marketing for Hyundai Motors America.
“Joel is highly regarded in industry and marketing circles and his track record speaks for itself,” said Reuss. “We are very pleased to have his marketing acumen, creative leadership and energy at GM at this critical time.”
Ewanick will be GM’s single point for marketing, responsible for improving positioning of Chevy, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac as well as boosting consumer consideration of GM vehicles in the United States. The shuffle comes nearly two months after GM’s most recent executive revamp that split sales and marketing operations in an effort to speed up GM’s post-bankruptcy recovery. In that shakeup, GM appointed Steve Carlisle as head of GM’s U.S. sales and stripped Docherty of sales and service responsibilities, leaving her in charge of marketing alone. (more…)
The first-generation Cadillac CTS was seen as the beginning of Caddy’s resurgence. Taking that renaissance one step further, the second-generation CTS is widely believed to be the best product Cadillac has to offer. The styling of the MK2 CTS builds on the first generation car, the latter marking the beginning of what Cadillac referred to as the blending of Art and Science. Since then, this theme has been crafted into the shape of every Cadillac.
The Art and Science design language brought with it a marketing campaign that underscored a design theme and described Caddy’s vehicles as having “The Power of Art & Science.” One TV spot even showed the Cadillac STS impersonating ball room dancers in an artsy hall, with Zeppelin playing in the background. Although this was a very successful campaign, it was dropped when General Motors hired Modernista, a Boston-based ad agency.
Modernista was responsible for Caddy’s most recent “Life, Liberty, And the Pursuit” campaign, but GM dropped that one as well upon signing with Bartle Bogle and Hegarty (BBH) – Cadillac’s newest ad agency. The New York-based firm will create all-new print advertisements and video spots and will also re-examine Cadillac’s website. The results of BBH’s work is due to hit the masses in the next few weeks.
But the biggest change involves Susan Docherty, Chief of Marketing for GM North America. She is bringing back Kim Brink to oversee the new old Art & Science theme for the Caddy brand. Both Brink and Docherty were involved in the development of the original Art & Science theme.
We can’t wait to see the fruits of this labor! Stay tuned.
[Source: Autoblog]
It may be an understatement to say that Cadillac is an under performing brand. It’s the fourth biggest luxury brand in the United States, almost non-existent in Europe, and most recently recorded a 32 percent drop in sales (in 2009) compared to an overall 30 percent decrease for GM. Yet even though Cadillac’s launch models are experiencing record growth, the brand is still growing slower than two of GM’s other core brands (Chevrolet and Buick). In an effort to rectify this problem, the luxury brand is in the process of distancing itself from parent company GM, which was bailed out by the U.S. government to the tune of $50 billion last year (taking a 61 percent ownership stake in GM in the process). (more…)
GM is offering zero percent financing for sales that occur during the month of March. Interestingly, GM’s announcement comes days after Toyota introduced the same incentive to help alleviate the sales dive experienced by the automaker due to recall afflictions and PR atrocities. When coupled with GM’s exclusive sales incentives for disgruntled Toyota owners, it becomes clear that The General is making a commitment to conquer as much market share (from Toyota and company) as possible.
The zero percent financing move is said to cover roughly 55 percent of all 2010 GM models currently on sale. Moreover, The General is also offering 0 percent financing for 72 months on remaining 2009 model inventory. In total, both incentives cover about 97 percent of what’s left on dealer lots.
Top top it all off, March is also Chevy and GMC truck month, with GM Vice President of U.S. marketing, Susan Docherty, saying “We’re going headstrong into truck month for both Chevrolet and GMC, which is a traditional play that we have normally done during March.”
But not only is March truck, reading, and college basket hoops month, it also marks the end of the first quarter of the year. Both GM and Toyota are most likely striving to capture as many last-minute sales as possible before the quarter comes to a close in an effort to have as strong a bottom line as possible. If GM succeeds, it will pile onto the previous booming months of January and February.
[Source: Automotive News via Autoblog]
The rumormill is at it again, this time – however – the topic revolves around GM’s organizational structure. Automotive News reports that GM will shake up its sales and marketing management in the U.S. as early as this week.
For starters, Susan Docherty, vice president of sales, support, and marketing, will transfer her sales responsibilities to GM North America President Mark Reuss.
Moreover, GM will shake up its organizational structure of its four core brands by separating sales and marketing functions. In other words, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Buick-GMC will each have a marketing leader that will report to Docherty, as well as a sales boss that will report to Reuss. Currently, the division heads are in charge of both functions.
The reorganization stems from CEO Ed Whitacre’s desire to drastically increase sales. Whitacre is also said to be impatient in making sure consumers appreciate the high quality of General Motors vehicles (link).
When Whitacre was appointed interim CEO of The General back in December 2009, he said that Sales and Marketing teams would need to show results quickly. This overhaul appears to be in response to this goal. Since then, Whitacre has become permanent CEO of General Motors.
GM is said to have not yet finalized the divisional marketing and sales assignments. Cadillac chief Bryan Nesbitt was appointed to his position in August 2009 while Chevrolet’s Jim Campbell and Buick-GMC’s Brian Sweeney assumed their positions in December. GM spokesperson Jason Lair declined to comment on the changes. Click past the break for the vaunted GM Authority take.
[Source: Automotive News] (more…)
Update: the supply-packed Sierras were shipped to Haiti on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 (with pictures below).
Former President Bill Clinton, who is also the current UN Special Envoy to Haiti, called for vehicles to support recovery efforts in Haiti. In response, the General Motors Foundation’s GM Global Aid program will donate 30 GMC Sierras to Haiti relief efforts. The trucks will be used to transport supplies to survivors of the January 12 earthquake.
The donation comes with the cooperation of both the National Football League and the William J. Clinton Foundation. Two of the trucks were delivered yesterday to the NFL’s Little Haiti Outreach Event at the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center in Miami. “Everyone in America has been affected in some way by this tragedy. GM and the NFL are going to visit the heart of Haitian community in South Florida to show our support,” Susan Docherty, Vice President of Sales, Support, and Marketing as well as GM Foundation board member, said yesterday. Miami Dolphins players and GM executives were among the attendees at the NFL fundraiser. The trucks were filled with water and supplies donated by Florida GMC dealers and their surrounding communities. (more…)
As if four wasn’t enough, GM’s vice president of Sales, Customer Service and Marketing Susan Docherty announced earlier today that GM will reveal seven all new models, along with four concepts at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week.
So far, we know three of the seven models that will be unveiled: the all-new Cadillac XTS, GMC Granite, and Chevy Aveo RS (leaked here). We will find out whether or not Docherty’s statement is in any way “stretching it.” Stay tuned to hear more about these all-new models from the one and only GM Authority!
Here’s the video, just in case you’re interested. Fast forward to the 1:40 mark.
GM is in the process of launching a new customer sales, service, and retention tool that will have the ability to reach out to consumers over 30 times during their ownership of a vehicle.
We’ve learned that the project is being spearheaded by Susan Docherty, GM North America vice president of Sales, Support, and Marketing. During a web chat last week, Susan wrote that “The purchase of a vehicle is only the beginning of GM’s interest in building a relationship with customers.”
We applaud GM’s effort to better connect with consumers and increase the use of technology in doing so. In fact, consumer “touchpoints” are increasingly becoming crucial in selling a vehicle: it’s important to connect with a potential customer even before s/he decides it’s time for a new vehicle and carry that connection all the way through the time the vehicle reaches 100,000+ miles. Undoubtedly, GM will use this tool to collect information and feedback from owners of its products, helping it align its vehicles with what customers demand.
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I think In the GM universe both these cars can exist ...
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