GM tells employees to say "Chevrolet" not "Chevy" to sell brand

Bye-bye, indeed, Miss American Pie. If General Motors has its way, you won’t be driving your Chevy to the levee ever again.

On Tuesday, G.M. sent a memo to Chevrolet employees at its Detroit headquarters, promoting the importance of “consistency” for the brand, which was the nation’s best-selling line of cars and trucks for more than half a century after World War II.

And one way to present a consistent brand message, the memo suggested, is to stop saying “Chevy,” though the word is one of the world’s best-known, longest-lived product nicknames.

“We’d ask that whether you’re talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising, or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward,” said the memo, which was signed by Alan Batey, vice president for Chevrolet sales and service, and Jim Campbell, the G.M. division’s vice president for marketing.

“When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding,” the memo said. “Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/automobiles/10chevy.html?hp

:banghead: And GM overpays the geniuses who come up with this how much?????????

You could promote your line as fun vehicles and a nostalgia by using Chevy. It's part of American lore.

Does GM have a clue????

But guess I'm still ticked at them dropping Oldsmobile and then Pontiac while hanging on to the old people's brand of Buick. Yeah I know Buick sells well in China.

I remember that as a little bitty thing

Much like "Chevy" is for "Chevrolet. :dunce:


Better rethink your example if you want to sell this hare-brained idea as some kind of genius marketing move.

Coke hasn't hurt Coca-Cola. (As long as it isn't "New Coke" :rofl:)

Chevrolet has also used Chevy in its own advertising in the past, has it not? I don't really get it, seems like an executive trying to justify his/her job by appearing to do something important that really isn't. :eyes:

Marketing people are full of Hyponex brand Steer Manure.

...wait for it...

..."It's a Chevy?"

:shrug:

caring for childrena and adults with disabilities. After the assistant CEO went to graduate school to get her MBA (with an emphasis in public relations), it was decided that re-branding was needed. An expensive consulting firm, two separate surveys, and two years later saw a name change while they were cutting the very popular and much used Rehab Engineering program from their services and people to this day still call the facility by the old name it carried for a century.

Branding is bs.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Our AE email is burning up over the "Chevrolet" as opposed to "Chevy" brand consistency effort/controversy going on within the halls of GM marketing, demanding that I comment on it. Before all of you out there have a complete and total meltdown over this I'll just throw out this one thing: Don't assume for a minute that it's not a publicity ruse to get Chevrolet/Chevy back on the radar screen. GM's new marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, has been known to do this sort of stuff on occasion and realistically I doubt much energy - if any - will be expended on it. And judging by all of the hand-wringing going on in the national media today, it worked, didn't it? - PMD

http://www.autoextremist.com/on-the-table1/


For anyone who doesn't know him, Peter DeLorenzo is a former longtime Detroit ad exec and for years has been a highly-connected Big 3 blogger...

So this is a pointless exercise, imo. I would think think also that "Chevy" would appeal to youth more than "Chevrolet" so this may actually work against GM, as the youth market is one place where they need to do a lot of work. The young tend to buy Toyotas, Hondas, etc.

I like the news Buicks. I think keeping the brand was their best decision.

If GM wants to use Chevrolet when marketing the brand, that's fine. But most people will probably still use Chevy.

Hell, just look at the name.... OLDSmobile. :rofl:

:eyes:

I went to www.chevrolet.com and "Chevy" is used all over the place.

How much you want to bet that "Chevy" is a registered trademark of GM?

Again...:eyes: