GM to significantly increase ad spending for 2009/2010

Read today that GM plans to significantly increase ad spending against their four core brands – Chevy, GMC, Buick and Cadillac – for the balance of 2009 and throughout 2010.

Ray Young, Chief Financial Officer, was quoted as saying “”It’s going to go up materially…The customers are telling us that you guys need to shout a lot more”.

Refreshing to say the least.  And timely.  This recession has restarted the competition, restarted the race and pursuit to own mind share of consumers.  Since ad spending has been cut dramatically across all manufacturers and dealership traffic decreased substantially, GM has a real opening here to reset consumer perceptions and reinvent themselves as a different company altogether.

Yesterday’s news that the VOLT will register 230 mpg was pretty shocking.  On Fox Business News last night, they equated the VOLT to the I-Pod, in that it has the potential to create a whole new category, shape consumer perceptions and behavior and really launch GM forward.  Prior to the I-Pod release, Apple was really languishing.  No better way to re-introduce consumers to GM than through face to face engagement with street teams and ride-n-drives.  Consumers need to see, feel and experience the exceptional product coming out of GM these days.

The article in it’s entirety – http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Autos/idUSTRE57B07K20090812