prinzSD455

Peter DeLorenzo at AutoExtremist has an interesting take on GM's attempt to trickle out info on the C7 bit by bit and he thinks it is a bad idea.

here is the link:
http://www.autoextremist.com/

for those too lazy to go to the link, here is the article:



October 24, 2012

Mind Manipulation: Nothing will be the same.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 10/23, 5:30 p.m.) Detroit.

"Now that Chevrolet has fired a two-shot volley (consisting of an emblem reveal followed by a teaser video) out into the mediasphere about the next-generation Corvette, which will make its debut on January 13 in Detroit, I can assure you that we will be inundated with videos, images and other pertinent attacks of Internet information from here on out, all designed to make enthusiasts salivate at the prospect of the first new Corvette in years.

And it will be all wrong, and on so many levels too.

Over the years, this business has completely lost its sense of drama and surprise. Yes, consumers these days are completely jaded and the Internet has turned over the proverbial information anthill, but that’s no excuse.

The prevailing mindset proffered by sparkly image wranglers these days (and when I say “image wranglers” I am referring to advertising, marketing and PR operatives) is: 1. You must manipulate the playing field. 2. That means that absolutely nothing can be left to chance. And 3. Only we know the what, where, when, why and how of it all, and we will manipulate and orchestrate to a fare-thee-well in order to accomplish our mission.

And what is that mission exactly? To leave consumers – enthusiasts or otherwise – so bored with the relentless tease shots, videos, Internet leaks and other cosmic mind manipulation that by the time their particular Belchfire 8 makes its debut it does so to a collective yawn?

They will of course insist - but we are positioning our information flow! We are managing the message! We are making sure that all of the important stakeholders on our side of the ball are comfortable! (Translation: We don’t want any key executives wigging out about a misguided bit of minutiae that gets their nose out of joint, now do we? After all, ***-chewing must be avoided at all costs.)

In Chevrolet’s case – and I’m reminded of the immortal words once uttered by VP Joe Biden to the President *– The launch of the seventh-generation Corvette is a big ****ing deal. And it most definitely is a big deal. The Corvette is one of the most iconic nameplates in automotive history and the new car will mark just the seventh generation in 60 years. But I’m afraid “the book” on modern image wrangling leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to truly understanding the momentous occasion that the launch of a new generation Corvette is.

And it’s easy to see why. The image-wrangling mindset in this business is too often dominated by the need for control rather than the need to create real, honest-to-goodness excitement. Hell, marketers these days can’t even keep their collective pants on long enough to keep from unveiling their Super Bowl commercials before the actual game; it has gotten that ridiculous.

Chevrolet’s operative theme for the pre-launch of the new Corvette – as opposed to the pre-pre-launch, the long lead, the short lead, the day before, the day of, and the day after – is Nothing will be the same.

Okay, we get it. This Corvette is an all-new car, inside and out. Voila! And I would certainly hope so and it should go without saying, since the current car was long in the tooth five years ago.

But if I were tasked to lead the launch of the new Corvette, I wouldn’t allow any teases of any kind. That means no early discussion of its content, no hints at what it will or won’t do, no emblem reveals, no engine spec disclosure, no design reveals in the shadows, no n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Remember, this is the Corvette we’re talking about here. It is one of exactly two automotive nameplates in this business – the Ford Mustang being the other – that transcend all consumer groups in this country. Nearly everyone has some sort of personal Corvette story, or a remembrance of the car from some point in his or her lives.

It’s understandable, for instance, that Ford would do extensive pre-launch campaigns for the Fiesta, Focus and Fusion, heavily skewed to social media, but do you really need to beat the anticipatory drums for one of the most iconic sports cars in the world? Do you think there’s a chance that a.) Someone with even a shred of automotive curiosity wouldn’t have heard something about a new Corvette coming? Or that b.) It wouldn’t be instantaneous news across the mediasphere the moment it was unveiled?

It’s far too late now, because Chevy’s image-wrangling minions are locked and loaded with a vast array of communications aimed at all of you out in ConsumerVille, including the new car’s very own image-wrangling website www.one13thirteen.com and its now-ubiquitous presence on twitter and facebook.

But I would venture to guess that if Chevrolet operatives had completely kept a lid on the new Corvette and released zero information to the media of any kind, wouldn’t the anticipation and buildup before its reveal on January 13th be at a fever pitch? And wouldn’t the media explosion upon its reveal dominate absolutely everything on that Sunday night and all day Monday?

I’ll answer that one for you, yes, it would. The resulting media frenzy would be spectacular, and if the new Corvette lives up to its billing, even more so. But the image wranglers and their mind manipulation games will not allow that to happen, and it stinks. Because they’re operating under the flawed assumption that it's all about control, excitement be damned.

Nothing will be the same, indeed.

Let this be a forewarning to the enthusiasts over in Dearborn who are feverishly at work on the next-generation Mustang. Pay attention to how Chevrolet is setting the table for the new Corvette and use it as a road map on how not to do it.

Remember that creating excitement does not mean controlling every last shred of information.

It means letting people’s imaginations and emotional connections run wild with anticipation.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week."


The reader's opinions pretty much agree with Peter. here is the link:
http://www.autoextremist.com/emails-of-the-week1/


Enjoy.

JerriVette

Peters cool and I appreciate the insights........still I disagree with his perspective on the vette release.

Take it for what it's worth...... I like the staged release as it makes it more fun..

It allows us to examine the Various improvements in much greater detail over a longer period of time.

For a vette enthusiast it's FUN!

Tech

Disagree. Sounds like a journalist looking for attention. Just my $.02.

John T

Peter is one of my favorite car guys for many reasons although i don' t agree with him on this point. He can't stand Akerson and that worries me because I do want GM to succeed . Peter says that Akerson does not know a damn thing about the automobile business and Akerson did have some input with the C7 and that worries me too... We will see !

RocketGuy3

I think he has a relevant point... at least based on what little I read (the last couple paragraphs).

BlueOx

I have to laugh considering he completely forgets all the trickle-down that Ford did with it's hi-po engines and plethora of Mustangs over the last two years.

GM got stuck with a variety of issues that caused this trickle to happen this way. Everything from bailout to bankruptcy to bad economy to Camaro/Caddy priorities, etc. I'd like to think that in a different world they would have done it better but who knows.

Slynky

In the end analysis of things like these, it will always be impossible to state with surety that it was done correctly or incorrectly. It's not an event that lends itself to that kind of analysis.

What does make me laugh are the people whose profession is not advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies all sitting on the sidelines with lessor jobs critiquing their every step much as all the Monday morning "quarterbacks" will talk to their overweight (and under-exercised) co-workers about how stupid "their" team's coach was and why didn't he did do... (etc., etc.).

For my part, I don't think anyone can say--when it's all over and done--that doing it this way either helped or hurt the sales of the new Corvette. What I can say, as a potential customer, is that I prefer it this way as opposed to nothing at all till January.

DREAMERAK

Journalists love to think they're smarter than everybody else.

GoldenRod

I think that as someone working in the automotive world, he overestimates the knowledge of the average consumer. Out of the 58 people in my office (many of whom are in the typical Corvette demographic), only 2 others are aware that a new Corvette will be arriving soon. One of them is only aware because he has the unfortnate luck of sitting beside my office. Do we need to beat the drums for this car? Absolutely. Otherwise, we will have an army of potential customers who will see the car on the road and say "Oh, what's that?" as they drive by in their G37 or Mustang.

prinzSD455

I read his column every week and most of the time I agree with him. As far as the C7, perhaps waiting and holding your cards close to your vest until the unveiling would create more of a sensation when the Vette comes, but I personally like the trickle down news. For the last few months I have checked this part of the Forum daily for tidbits on the C7.

camaro_zach

tuxnharley

And - it looks like he is fundamentally wrong on his basic point. I sure don't see any signs of "boredom" around here - the very target audience that GM needs to attract!



PS - Gotta remember that media journalists exist in a world of deadlines, by which time they must produce even if they have nothing of value to say at that point. Sometimes that results in cr@p like this, even from the good ones.

CaryKen

This is the line that gets me. Does he mark success as the ability to get media focus for a 30-hour period? Hell, a video of a squirrel on a surfboard can do that.

AFVETTE

One man's opinion is another's xxxxxxxx

McGirk94LT1

I only bothered to skim it, glad I didn't waste any more time on it.

SRT did it for viper and every performance related car forum and then some had multiple threads about it. Constant trickling means constant anticipation plain and simple. Statements like does America's sports car with 60 years of history really need all this? and I would hope it's all new since the current generation is long in the tooth, are contradictory even.

Gotta love the "experts."

Hirohawa

It's not an iPhone - this is a 50K + New Generation iconic car that will be with us for almost a decade not a one year cycle. Parsing it out is the best way to go.

Mike Mercury

GM'er

Sounds like a sore loser who still wants to live in a world where the entire story is told by the media, and he and his jornalist pals. He doesn't like that HE is not in control of the information, and that HE won't get a big audience when he writes his article on 1/13/13.

blitzebill

so are the commenters under his article from this forum?

if so, are they commenting in this thread?

obzidian

Wow... talk about hatin'.