Cadillac is on a mission to realign its image in the eyes of consumers and that goal has attracted loads of talented people away from other luxury manufacturers and high-end consumer product brands.
The 113-year-old brand recently took on 60 newcomers at its global Headquarters in New York City, where this week it will relocate from its temporary facility to a permanent spot in a 16-floor, century-old building in Lower Manhattan which overlooks the Hudson River. The top two floors of the building will house Cadillac. It will be the epicenter of the brand’s rebirth.
The two-story war room is mostly home to marketing and brand-strategy people, where the newcomers will be joined by an equal number of GM and Cadillac stalwarts. Don’t forget the thousands more that will aid their efforts from Detroit, notably, the engineers.
Many have left marketing posts at luxury manufacturers like BMW, Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz. While others arrived from the world of consumer-oriented luxury brands like Godiva, Belvedere vodka, and Ann Taylor, among others.
Why would those with cushy corporate jobs leave for a brand on the cusp of change? Quite simply, many are attracted by the chance to return the once-legendary American brand to greatness.
According to Automotive News, many describe their new opportunity at Cadillac as a start-up atmosphere–they’d rather work towards growing and reshaping a turnaround than maintain the status quo at other firmly established brands. They also firmly believe in the plan outlined by Cadillac boss Johan de Nysschen and Marketing Chief Uwe Ellinghaus.
Matt Russell, a BMW enthusiast who helped launch Mini, described how he relishes the chance to mould brands into established players.
“I’ve never forgotten how exciting it was to go out and find growth,” he said. “BMW is slow and steady growth. I was at a point where I wanted to take some real risk.”
“To an extent we’re starting from scratch in the way we approach the brand,” noted Amana Knauer, a new brand strategy employee at Cadillac in the AN report. “It’s not just inheriting last year’s plan as a template. It’s looking at things with a fresh set of eyes.”
“We have enough car experts,” de Nysschen said in July. ” I wanted people to bring new ideas and perspective because we might have blind spots.”
Comments
This is good news…VERY GOOD NEWS !!! There is no question the brand can use some help in this department. Now if only they can find a replacement for Mr. de Nysschen they might have a shot at success.
Nothing wrong with Mr. De Nysschen. Don’t know why people are quick to get rid of someone nowadays?
He’s been with Cadillac a little over a year now.
The answer is simple…He hasn’t got a clue.
He needs to be replaced before he drives Cadillac out of business.
He has raised the price of the CTS to the same as a Mercedes E-Class because he says its as good a car as the E-Class and I don’t disagree. I bought one. But the general public doesn’t believe that a Cadillac CTS is on the same level as a Mercedes. A typical consumer would walk into a Cadillac dealer, see a CTS with a window sticker price of $65,000 and say, “I could buy a Mercedes for that, and he’d leave. I recently had a conversation with a Cadillac Salesman and that’s exactly what is happening.
The 2014 Cadillac CTS won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year and it competed directly against the 5 Series BMW and the Mercedes E-Class, Cadillac didn’t feel the need to tell anyone about it. It should have been the basis for their ad campaign, just like it was for Volkswagen last year.
You can’t expect consumers to believe that Cadillacs are as good as Mercedes, unless you tell them over and over again. Raising the price $10,000 hasn’t convinced anyone and in fact has alienated and angered a good number of current customers. Unfortunately, Mr. de Nysschen doesn’t seem to understand that. He doesn’t seem to gasp basic marketing principles and that’s why he should be fired.
They tried for two years straight to compare directly to the Germans. In fact Uwe gave the past campaigns even more time just to prove they weren’t going to work. Zero results.
Buying market share doesn’t create a luxury brand. You might get a few more customers today, but you are going to sacrifice tomorrow’s who won’t buy a Cadillac at any price.
The mandate that GM has given him is to create a luxury brand in 5 years, not fifty. In five years baby boomers (Cadillac’s traditional customer) will be less than 20% of the luxury car buying market.
It’s going to get worse or better, depending on your view, when the aging SRX disappears in the Spring to be replaced by the new and much upgraded XT5.
Frank you really have to get a handle on how the real world works.
One year is not going to move mountains. Hell they are just now getting their staffs put together now.
You just don’t walk in the door and say here put this out and then we will figure out how to deal with the marketing later when we get the folks in that we want in place. It takes time to get the right people and you do not want to go off one direction with Marketing and then have to reverse it once the top people you hired come in and want to do it different. You saw this cluster F going on with Chevy when they changed their slogan every six months. The public could never grasp anything till stability came in.
The truth is Cadillac is a much better and very good car. It is clearly better in all areas? No. The money he was giving is now being used to make these cars not as good but better than the others. That takes anywhere from 2-5 years depending on how far you go with the changes.
Johann made it clear that Cadillac is not where he wants it and he wants to advance it to where there is no subjective BS that prevents them from finishing first in every review. That means even better interiors, better Cue, better V6 and 4 cylinder Turbo engines of their own design even a more advanced V8.
So if you think a few ads and a incoherent marketing program that will be changed in the coming year is going to make Cadillac you are showing your inexperience in how the real market works here.
He did not rise the price the prices were where they were when he came. He did not lower them as he plans to finish the job that was started and never fully completed correctly. You do not lower the price you continue to make the car worthy of the price or more. As it is now it is the cheapest of the three by a good amount with most models.
Frank this is not a sprint it is a marathon. GM has the time to do this right and for once they committed to the right thing to invest and spend the money to make this deal right.
I would recommend you read some of the books on how the industry works or does not work and it will give you insight into how this stuff really happens. I have been lucky to know insiders at several of the MFG and you can really learn a lot from them. It is not what you think from the outside. The reality takes time and money and real change in a large company takes full commitment that GM just finally gave a year ago August.
Not only does it take time for the plans and product to change but it will take time to earn the trust of the public too once you do get things right. How many times GM said oh things are different and better only to see cheap up on the NorthStar where the head gaskets blow. Or where they bring in a Opel that also under pinned a cheap RWD Saturn.
We are not up against Toyota customers here. Most of the people in this segment know what they are buying and do so for what the car represents to them and the image it projects on them. This needs to be earned as it is never given at this price point.
Look at this as a prize fight. A heavy weight champ can get the crap beat out of him but too often unless he is knocked down or out he still wins the fight. Cadillac has been going rounds and today they are going for the knock out. But to do so it takes training or in this case continued investment and improvement.
Cadillac is close but close only counts in horseshoes.
You need to let Johann play his cars before you go about firing him. He wants product right before he claims it is. It’s not bragging if you can back it up it is fact.
Will he pull this off? I don’t know. As of now he is doing the right things and for the first time in decades GM is doing the right thing. We just have to wait for the product to hit and then wait for the image and trust to return.
If anything something must be going good as 3 co workers in their 30’s bought ATS sedans in the last month.
Read some of Bob Lutz books he has written they give good insight.
Also John Deloreans book On a Clear Day You Can See GM. It shows how things went bad at GM.
Finally What Would Jesus Drive. No it is not a religion book but one on marketing and how to try to turn a company around by a man who worked for many automakers and remade many of their images. It gives a good path of what is going on at Cadillac now and the challenges and time lines Cadillac will see.
FYI Johann warned of a lag in new product over the next year or two. Why you may ask? Because they are making changes that will take 2-5 years to change as a normal production cycle. Not much you can do to make this go faster. That is short compared to what it used to be.
A lot of people want a new challenge to new employment from their former employer. Brands like Mercedes, BMW, Gordivia chocolates and etc are too strong and not much a marketer can do to increase their growth. Kinda like not having anything to do if that makes sense.
Also others want change, got tired of politics and etc so it is a no brainer to join Cadillac.
Once Cadillac is established for several generation cycles from now, some of the marketing folks could leave Cadillac also if it gets to the point their grow is slow and steady like the competition.
I my self am on my second STS now with 190,000 miles and no end in sight. Cadillac does not need to be in the others price range. It needs to be as good or better than they are at a reasonable price. I do not drive a Caddy because of the status, I drive it because of the machinery. Plus it looks great! Do you think the Corvette would sell as good as it does if it was priced like a 911T?
“Do you think the Corvette would sell as good as it does if it was priced like a 911T”
Put the writing on the wall for 10 years and the consumers would have to take it if they want the best GM offers.
I mean when the GTR came out, it was about $10K less than the C6. Now, you can’t get one for less than $100K
Source: http://jalopnik.com/5877907/this-chart-shows-how-the-nissan-gt-rs-price-has-skyrocketed-35-in-five-years
Nissan, freaking Nissan, can charge more for than an Corvette and STILL have strong demand….on an 8 year old platform!
I was parts manager at a Chrysler dealership for 23 years.Always drove Chryslers as did my whole family.I am now the ecstatically proud owner of a 2013 Cadillac ATS 3.6 AWD and i shall never drive anything else but Cadillac for the rest of my life.Cadillac is DEFINATELY on the right track and i couldnt be happier.
sounds like 5 years from now I will need some serious promotions or I woulnt be able to afford a Cadillac anymore…… either way this is interesting
What is the first word coming out of every car reviewer’s mouth about Cadillac, their response to Cadillac is that the cars are ‘OVERPRICED’ and this might be the reason why sales have been slow. Cadillac’s CTS is possibly the best car that the company has built in the last 100 years and not as many people are buying because it’s the same price as it’s German competitor as there’s no advantage to buying American except that it’s an American isn’t good enough.
If this price strategy is Johan de Nysschen; then Mary Barra needs to consider replacing de Nysschen if sales don’t pick up because while making ,000 profit per car is great; but it’s not so good if sales are down 40-percent as I want as many people buying my brand as possible and make a smaller profit to keep people from buying other brand.
Yet another lost soul here that just does not get it.
Johann did not raise prices. They were set long before he got here.
While you are correct that the cars are some of the best in decades. Sorry the 30’s really were the standard of the world. What Johann will do is improve the cars to worthy of the price.
Answer this? Ok if he lowers prices this year and in 2-3 years when a higher content more complete and better car than the Germans arrive how you tell everyone Oh sorry but we are not going to jack the cars back up again because we spent more money on them to make then not better but the best.
This is like the Movie Guns Of Navarone A bridge too far. In that movie the bomb maker lost most of his supplies so he put together a plan and the commandos set off the bomb for a damn. They think the thing is going to come crashing down at that moment. At this time the bomb maker said just give it time and let nature take is course. In the end after 10 min the damn falls and then takes the bridge.
Well that is were we are at now. You can not go back and you will go forward but you have to let the nature of the business and design times take their course. You can not make them go faster.
These are going to be a couple of lean years but it will pay off in the long run.
Second they are not making Zero profit per car so drop that BS now.
Finally sale will rise but they will never return to the badge engineering days. That would be the kiss of death as compromise will creep in.
I see too many wanting to return to the ways of Old GM with Cadillac wanting Cheaper and more cars. You saw where that got up did you not?
I also suspect many sour oats because some of the past customers here are not going to be able to remain a Cadillac customer. Sad but the reality is not everyone should be able to be a Cadillac owner. You want Image the first thing you do is not sell to anyone who can pay a discount rebate driven price.
The reality is the quality is going to go up from here. Yes the cars are good but they need to be better yet.
Hear this IF You Want Better Cars You will Have To Pay For Them. Do NOT Expect Rebates and Discounts. That is why we had crap for so many years.
God I swear some of you are ex Old GM People. Yes the owns who were the problem giving ups the cars we got for the last 4 decades.
The Cadillac project will take seven to ten years. We were told Cadillac would be a player by now; in fact, the brand garnered nothing but praise back in 2013 with Motley Fool and other publications proclaiming victory. Well, it turns out not so fast.
GM had better strengthen Buick/GMC in the meantime. This will be enough to battle Acura, Infinity, Genesis offerings and Lincoln while pulling fat margins.
And that is why we are getting a new Lacrosse. Regal , and more car and SUV, CUV models.
GM is just getting there as for Cadillac we have what the old GM wanted and now Mark Reuss has made the moves to make Cadillac what they new GM wants. They have made the right choices elsewhere now they just need to finish things off. When you can get GM to commit to invest in a decent car already you will end up with the best car.
Acura…? Infinity? o please which one has an answer to a CTS V?………. crickets
Cadillac is doing so well; cars with a wonderful performance, with very attractive personality; but change the thinking of people takes a long time, many years have been selling “bad” Cadillacs and that will not be arranged in a night .
XT-5 and CT6 are the real first steps to get the real prestige Cadillac wants, time will put Cadillac in place that seeks
hopefully the upcoming Cadillacs will come sooner rather than later.
the new Caddys will not start getting here till 2018 or 19….like they said doen’t expect to feel the impact over night.