Although much focus has been on Cadillac and its turnaround, the more present success story points to Buick. Not only has science confirmed its advertising effectiveness, but now Ace Metrix, an advertising, TV and video analytics company, has ranked the brand in second place, only behind Mercedes-Benz, according to Automotive News.
Much of Buick’s advertising has been focused on breaking its past, facing its stereotypes right in the eyes, and knocking them away with whimsical, upbeat Matt and Kim music, witty commentary and utter disbelief the product portrayed is indeed, a Buick.
Currently, Mercedes ranks at the top with an “Ace” score of 593, while Buick trails by only six points.
Ace Metrix scores every national television ad across 96 categories to create a comparative database. Then, a unique panel of at least 500 consumers, representative of the U.S. TV- and Internet-viewing audience, scores each ad in the same manner. The results are then provided on a scale from 1 to 950 on creative attributes such as persuasion, likability, information, attention, change, relevance, desire and watchability.
And apparently consumers quite like what Buick is doing.
Buick has also focused heavily on NCAA campaigns, making advertising connections with college athletics recently to open itself to a new audience.
It should only be a matter of time before consumer grab a glance at the 2017 Buick LaCrosse and understand that it to is also a Buick.
Comments
Buick management should run Cadillac as well . It would quickly show the Caddie structure how to do more with less ! All you have to do with Cadillac , to make it relevant , it appears , is to hire someone from outside the company to run the division and another to be marketing chief….. GM forks over 12 billion more or less for Cadillac to play with , and pays the big lease bucks so Cadillac can H.O can be in trendy New York City …..ain’t life grand ??
Sorry it is not just that simple .
The folks hired just got there a little over a year ago along with the money.
It takes time to make the changes they are making.
Kind of like taking Cadillac to Australia and England no sense in doing it till you do it right with RHD.
All Nuuk has done was adapt some Opels and kept up with the sub models till now. Their challenge has been less as they are working with other divisions and the dealers were kept afloat with GMC in most cases.
Both Cadillac and Buick will have a lot going on in the next 5 years. Both will prosper and grow. Buick will work the volume lower cost luxury and niche market. Cadillac will work the lower volume higher image and profit segment.
You will find the move to NYC was more about independence from GM meddling than anything else.
Well, that’s a good place for Buick to work from.
Hard to tell how ‘Ace’ measured their attributes (weighted or not?) with regard to sales.
Year on year, the only Buick significantly in the plus column is the Encore, last I looked.
Regal, Verano, LaCrosse are all down. I think Enclave is kind of even (?).
Even if you included China, Buick is a product of Shanghai GM – the Chinese gov’t owns 51% of that operation.
But like I said, at least people are taking notice. Now they just need to buy Buicks..
Well this is a good place to correct your distortion of the truth.
If you look at the Buick line it is the last brand to get any new products. The Regal, Verano, Lacrosse and Enclave are all models that were in production or were developed while GM was in or just before they filed for Bankruptcy. In other words these are all old models accept the Encore. Now the new Lacrosse will be the first post Chapter 11 developed car and one of the first conceived as a shared model with Opel and not just a car adapted from an Opel.
So if you would be totally honest it is too soon to declare Buick a failure or success yet. We have to let them prove themselves with new product we should see in the next couple years in much greater numbers.
As for the Chinese owning 51% you also need to be honest as any company building cars in China has to sell 51% or more of the company with a Chinese automaker. It’s the law. They also have to share the intellectual property used to the partner and government too. This is why the Volt is not sold there as GM does not want to share that or their hydrogen cell technology.
Yes people are taking notice because even with the old product and their new marketing they are changing their image slowly. Now the new product is here and now Cadillac has moved higher up in the food chain it has given Buick room to grow between Chevy and Cadillac.
Add to this the GMC line in most of their dealers it gives them a chance to do as they call white space niche models. The Buick you see today will be much different in the next 4-8 years.
Will it work well lets sit back and watch as no one can tell yet. I think with this division the liberties that can be taken will really prove to be a big help in how they are perceived.