Buick has been praised for its honesty regarding the current image it holds in the United States: it’s for old people. Exploiting that has been key in a series of hugely successful advertisements for the brand, which depict people questioning if the vehicle is indeed a Buick in front of them.
The Detroit Free Press spoke with Tony DiSalle, Buick vice president of marketing, and discussed where the campaign will go next, as consumers begin to reach the tipping point in the current message.
Long story short, there is plenty to come with the campaign still.
“Consumers tell us it gets their attention and they are engaged in the message and they can’t wait to hear the next story that Buick has to tell,” DiSalle said. He went on to explain the “Is that a Buick” tagline is key to cut through the noise and clutter that is modern day advertising.
With four new models launching this year alone, DiSalle also stated the brand will be far from quiet, and said the ads will shift from overall perception shaping, to showing what Buick brings to the table.
“We know that we still have more work to do. We know that people still have what we call false familiarity, or very dated perceptions. So we definitely have more work to do ,” DiSalle said. “But we are becoming more declarative in terms of explaining what Buick means.”
Buick has spends, on average, $230 million on advertising each year, according to the most recent research. But, with the 2016 Buick Cascada, 2016 Envision, 2017 LaCrosse and 2017 Encore all on the way, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the figure climb.
Comments
Buick shouldn’t be positioned as the new Oldsmobile. Historically, Buick always shared platforms with Cadillac and it’s time for GM to shift Buick upmarket.
Let Chevy Premier handle the Olds price point.
Nope. Those were dark days. Buick should be positioned against Volvo and Acura, while Cadillac is positioned against M-B, BMW, and above.
Buick=Comfortable, affordable luxury
Cadillac=Pure performance luxury
Buick today is not a needed brand here in the states but since it is now global it can be used to expand sales with out having to carry the full load of development like Olds and Pontiac did.
Being so they have literally taken the total middle ground where Olds, Buick, Pontiac and the ground Cadillac vacates. But being a global brand working with Opel they will be more Euro flavored and worldly.
Cadillac is now be more autonomous and Buick will take up that ground where they once were.
We will see vehicles form Buick we expect like the SUV models but we will also see vehicles we never expected like a wagon and even an upscale hatch. They can pick and choose models from Opel to try things few other brands can do here. If it works fine if not they just let Opel keep all the production.
What was on Historically does not apply anymore as the world has changes as has all the markets and how companies operate. Buick will be in time the most interesting brand at GM as the white space they have spoken of will bring us the neat cars we will find interesting.
GM should have kept Oldsmobile not Buick .Olds attracted younger buyers with Cutlass -442- Intrigue- Olds was always a better seller than Buick ,back in the 80’s Olds was the 3rd best selling division on the American road. Olds wound have fit in the lineup better ,having Chevy , GMC (which is a copy of Chevy should go ) Olds (would have fit in with the middle position and the Cadillac covering the high end . Buick is stepping on Cadillacs shoes . Olds was the innovator for GM , if a new feature was came out it was out into Olds first then pasted on to the other divisions.
They missed the mark by not getting the Envision here last fall
Considering the hoopla over the Chinese manufacturing of this car… I’m pretty sure there’s not right time to introduce this.
Timing is everything but that also applies to when they could bring it here. As it is they are selling all they can make in China in China last year. GM lost nothing. Also the timing for the import is to get an early start here as there is no production of this platform at this time here that they could fall back on till the Nox is on line.
Hell Buck survived with only 2-3 cars in the show room just a couple years ago. Most of the dealers have GMC and are doing fine or are also a Chevy dealer and also doing fine.
The growth of Buick is important but not as important as other things. They will get their due over time. The merging of them Opel and Holden has set the time line back a bit but in the long run it will make things better.
they did miss the market but it should be made in the USA
Help us understand how “hugely successful advertisements” equate to a negative 2.5% in 2015 Buick sales.
Were it not for the Encore, well, we haven’t done the math, but I suspect it wouldn’t be pretty.
And 2016, sales have been incentive-driven, Tier 2 efforts – 16% off for remaining stock. Then a ‘Sweet 16% off’ for the NCAA tournament.
Seriously – how does that equate to “hugely successful?” Meaning sales, not some ‘awareness metrics’.
Buick needs to lose the fake air vents on their cars. Spend millions in advertising targeted towards a more youthful demographic yet keep a design feature of the past that no one wants in the present. Until Buick solves its own identity crisis, “Is that a Buick?” must continue.
Fake air vents on Buicks is such a minor cosmetic visual secondary detail. It affects really nothing and it’s not really an issue.
BTW, not only Buick has these vents – all Maserati models now have similar ventiports too, and this was noticed long time ago (2003):
http://forums.aaca.org/topic/45420-why-does-the-maserati-quaatroporte-look-like-a-buick/
So what?