Earlier in July, GM’s Australian arm Holden unveiled a new advertising campaign that will serve as the brand’s new ad direction. The campaign signals a new change for Holden as it transitions from the “Go Better” theme it has used to deliver its message since 2008.
The new campaign comes after a plethora of consumer research “to better understand what Australians think of Holden”, as the brand wasted “to understand what came to mind when they thought of our brand”, according to Holden Marketing Director Simon Carr. “Did Holden and our products continue to inspire consumers, did they think we were fresh and exciting, did they think we were doing well?”
Holden realized that even though it had revamped its product portfolio over the last 18 months, some consumers weren’t aware of the significant changes to the product lineup.
“Holden Volt really signifies that change”, said Carr. “It offers exciting new technology that buyers may not associate with the Holden brand and what better way to show how Holden is changing than bringing to market a game-changer like the Volt?”
“We’re more than the Commodore car company. We have a strong small car portfolio with Cruze and Barina; in the SUV segment we have Captiva and the all-new Colorado which is set to make waves in the LCV market.
“Put simply, we’re not just about large cars and as a brand we’ve got some work to do with the next generation of car buyers to get into their consideration set.”
Here are the first two ad spots that set the new direction for Holden:
Comments
The problem is that Holden IS a ” Commodore ” car company, the rest are rebadged chevys.
Babersher: precisely!
This would have been an excellent opportunity to try out the Chevy brand in Australia. The Volt and the rest of the otherwise Chevy lineup would probably sell better in Aus with the bow tie anyway.
It wouldn’t, people hate Chevrolet here.
Bah! @Holden4Life… Really? Have any proof of this?
I’d wager that Chevys (Spark, Sonic/Aveo, Cruze, Captiva, Malibu, Colorado, Trailblazer) would sell as well as Chevys as they do as Holdens. The only people who still care about Holden are the die-hard Commodore/Ute/Caprice fans. Everyone else might as well buy a Toyota… or a Chevrolet. I know it’s hard to swallow, but it’s true.
It’s not. American cars have a certain stigma about them here and so wearing a chevrolet badge would decrease the popularity of the cars. People hate chevrolet because bogans (australian rednecks) put chevrolet badges on commodores because they think its cool. Everyone hates them because Chevrolet have nothing to do with the Commodore. All of Australia still cares about Holden because its our brand and we want it to stay that way.
Stigma exists everywhere and with everything. It’s overcome with good strategy. Kia/Hyundai did this; so did Volkwagen. And so will Cadillac and Buick.
Holden is alive and well right now, but its strength purely as a brand is declining even in light of great (Chevrolet) product. Let’s see if it’s around in 25 years. My prediction: it won’t be. Global brands will leave no room for regional stuff.
I like the Advertising Campaign 🙂
Haha I love seeing part of the Bowie at the end