Provocative Cadillac, Rescuing the Brand from Bland
03-04-14, 10:29 AM
#1
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Provocative Cadillac, Rescuing the Brand from Bland
Interesting blog post in the Harvard Business Review by Grant McCracken
I agree with his points about taking a stand and putting some people off. I think Lexus is doing something similar with its styling, and I think it is also working.
Cadillac’s new spot Poolside is exploding. It shows a guy walking through his beautiful home musing on American virtues, values, and accomplishments. It debuted during the Superbowl and played again Sunday night during the Oscars.
Naturally, the world went ballistic. These days, in our ideologically conflicted moment, we can’t say anything about the American experiment with provoking supporters, denigrators, and a great storm of controversy.
Poolside is a celebration of hard work, risk taking, and American exceptionalism. For good measure, it goes after the French, those lazy so-and-sos who linger in cafés and take August off. Our hero (played by Neal McDonough) scorns these continental layabouts and counts up American accomplishments, including the trip to the moon. “Got a car up there. And we left the keys in it. You know why? Because we’re the only ones going back.”
Some said, “Bravo! Finally someone prepared to give voice to the things that made this country great.” Others said that this ad is an evocation of the ugly American, materialist America, and the dreadful 1%.
The marketing question is simple. Why is this ad going where angels fear to tread? Surely Cadillac and Rogue, the agency, knew that they were going to stir things up, that Poolside was going to go all cannon ball.
But of course they knew. And that’s the point. Cadillac was one of the great brands of the 1950s and then it fell so far some thought it would never return to glory. To make matters worse, boomers decided they had to buy European. You know, to show how cosmopolitan they were. German competitors said, “thank you very much,” and set about winning hearts, minds, and wallets. For many consumers, Detroit became virtually invisible.
And there is a second, deeper problem. Marketing in America got smaller and risk adverse. Brands started to get distinctly Ned Flanders. Nice and pleasant was the order of the day. Even claims like “we build excitement” were made in a not very exciting way. Brands were trying so hard to please everyone they struggled to interest anyone.
Yes, it’s not very American. Yes, it looks like a failure of nerve. But, no, I am not evoking the spirit of Poolside. The problem with nervous marketing is purely technical. What the marketing community has been slow to grasp is that nice is not a place of safety. Appealing a little bit to everyone turns out to be a really dangerous place to be. If we want a powerful brand, we are going to have to pay for it with risk. We have to start offending, irritating, and antagonizing some people.
Look, not everyone is a target. The Subaru set is never going to buy a Cadillac. So Cadillac can offend these people with impunity. (And, boy, did Cadillac offend them.) Can offend them and probably should. Some antagonism has no downside. Some segments will never like us. In fact we rather like it when they don’t.
When he constructed Running Fence, the artist Christo said that everyone who took exception to his intrusion on the California landscape was now an artist — his artist. When Rogue and Cadillac created Poolside, they turned all those naysayers into instruments of the brand. Does it matter that they now hate Cadillac? Not even a little. Their outrage makes them servants of the brand. They help rescue the brand from bland.
I am not saying I endorse the Poolside point of view. I am saying that a provocative position, any provocative position, is good for business. It lets the brand breathe. It makes the brand vivid and interesting. And it’s not the case that provocation can come only from the Right. Subaru has lots of opportunities to provoke and irritate. (And their work for the TV show Being Human is plenty provocative.)
The point is that every brand must calculate a trade-off. If we want passion and engagement, we are obliged to up the provocation. Not everyone is going to love us. But then these days there’s no chance everyone is going to love us. The new trade-off says, for some to love us, others must hate us. Or at least find us incredibly irritating. It’s the American way.
Naturally, the world went ballistic. These days, in our ideologically conflicted moment, we can’t say anything about the American experiment with provoking supporters, denigrators, and a great storm of controversy.
Poolside is a celebration of hard work, risk taking, and American exceptionalism. For good measure, it goes after the French, those lazy so-and-sos who linger in cafés and take August off. Our hero (played by Neal McDonough) scorns these continental layabouts and counts up American accomplishments, including the trip to the moon. “Got a car up there. And we left the keys in it. You know why? Because we’re the only ones going back.”
Some said, “Bravo! Finally someone prepared to give voice to the things that made this country great.” Others said that this ad is an evocation of the ugly American, materialist America, and the dreadful 1%.
The marketing question is simple. Why is this ad going where angels fear to tread? Surely Cadillac and Rogue, the agency, knew that they were going to stir things up, that Poolside was going to go all cannon ball.
But of course they knew. And that’s the point. Cadillac was one of the great brands of the 1950s and then it fell so far some thought it would never return to glory. To make matters worse, boomers decided they had to buy European. You know, to show how cosmopolitan they were. German competitors said, “thank you very much,” and set about winning hearts, minds, and wallets. For many consumers, Detroit became virtually invisible.
And there is a second, deeper problem. Marketing in America got smaller and risk adverse. Brands started to get distinctly Ned Flanders. Nice and pleasant was the order of the day. Even claims like “we build excitement” were made in a not very exciting way. Brands were trying so hard to please everyone they struggled to interest anyone.
Yes, it’s not very American. Yes, it looks like a failure of nerve. But, no, I am not evoking the spirit of Poolside. The problem with nervous marketing is purely technical. What the marketing community has been slow to grasp is that nice is not a place of safety. Appealing a little bit to everyone turns out to be a really dangerous place to be. If we want a powerful brand, we are going to have to pay for it with risk. We have to start offending, irritating, and antagonizing some people.
Look, not everyone is a target. The Subaru set is never going to buy a Cadillac. So Cadillac can offend these people with impunity. (And, boy, did Cadillac offend them.) Can offend them and probably should. Some antagonism has no downside. Some segments will never like us. In fact we rather like it when they don’t.
When he constructed Running Fence, the artist Christo said that everyone who took exception to his intrusion on the California landscape was now an artist — his artist. When Rogue and Cadillac created Poolside, they turned all those naysayers into instruments of the brand. Does it matter that they now hate Cadillac? Not even a little. Their outrage makes them servants of the brand. They help rescue the brand from bland.
I am not saying I endorse the Poolside point of view. I am saying that a provocative position, any provocative position, is good for business. It lets the brand breathe. It makes the brand vivid and interesting. And it’s not the case that provocation can come only from the Right. Subaru has lots of opportunities to provoke and irritate. (And their work for the TV show Being Human is plenty provocative.)
The point is that every brand must calculate a trade-off. If we want passion and engagement, we are obliged to up the provocation. Not everyone is going to love us. But then these days there’s no chance everyone is going to love us. The new trade-off says, for some to love us, others must hate us. Or at least find us incredibly irritating. It’s the American way.
03-04-14, 11:42 AM
#2
I agree Cadillac and Lexus are in the same boat. Both offering things they otherwise never have until now while BMW, MBZ, Porsche and Audi have. Both automakers are exploding onto the scene bringing more competition than ever to the German door. And let's not forget Jaguar is making waves, their baby 3-Series fighter the XE just debuted too
03-04-14, 12:59 PM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
Look, not everyone is a target. The Subaru set is never going to buy a Cadillac. So Cadillac can offend these people with impunity. (And, boy, did Cadillac offend them.) Can offend them and probably should.
Now....all this just might make some buisness sense if, (as is often claimed) those older car buyers were all just going to quietly pass away soon and be carried off in coffins....no sense trying to cater to a market that is no longer there. But that is clearly not the case. Because of good medical care today and a number of other factors, many of these buyers will live well into their 80s, 90s, or even longer, giving them at least another couple of decades of buying new cars. They will continue to be viable customers.......except that their favorite type of cars aren't (and won't be) in production any longer.
Last edited by mmarshall; 03-04-14 at 01:02 PM.
03-04-14, 01:31 PM
#4
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
XTS sold nearly 50,000 last year, with just 8% going to fleets.
Most people in their 80's and 90's have no desire to buy new cars, as they generally put so few miles on their car per year they can't justify an entirely new purchase on their generally fixed financials. So tell me how these are "viable" customers. And most old people I know don't want to be seen as an "old" person, they also want something that is stylish and what younger people are driving.
So, yes, the business case in indeed quite solid to move away from being an "old" person's car brand.
03-04-14, 01:53 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Thye're being replaced in that age group, though, by the largest American generation to date...the post-WWII Baby Boomers. The number of people in that age group is going to increase vastly in the next several years.
First, many of them can still drive safely despite their age. Those who can't, though (and I have seen this for myself a number of times) simply have their home-care nurses drive them in their DTS or Town Car as part of the job. In effect, it's the best of both worlds.....they have the car they want and a chauffeur to boot. The car is always available, ready and waiting, in their driveway (they don't have to call and reserve one)...as long as a driver is also there.
Stereotypes are a bunch of nonsense. People waste a lot of time and money trying to keep up with the Jones'....even if the Jones' may be a little younger. 
The wise older person accepts his or her age, doesn't have any problem with it, and simply buys the car he or she likes and wants.......except that most of those cars are no longer available.
Today's Cadillacs and Lincolns are selling mostly because of their quality, advanced safety-features, and more efficient drivetrains, not because they necesarily appeal to a "younger" crowd. Though clearly more comfort-oriented than today's Cadillacs/Lincolns, those older models also had some troublesome components, like the Northstar V8's oil-consumption and head-gasket problems. But those problems could have been addressed in different ways.
Most people in their 80's and 90's have no desire to buy new cars, as they generally put so few miles on their car per year they can't justify an entirely new purchase on their generally fixed financials. So tell me how these are "viable" customers.
And most old people I know don't want to be seen as an "old" person, they also want something that is stylish and what younger people are driving.
The wise older person accepts his or her age, doesn't have any problem with it, and simply buys the car he or she likes and wants.......except that most of those cars are no longer available.
So, yes, the business case in indeed quite solid to move away from being an "old" person's car brand.
Last edited by mmarshall; 03-04-14 at 01:56 PM.
03-04-14, 02:03 PM
#6
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Give it up mmarshalll, you're not getting a floaty cloud ride back, and none of the side door bumper moldings either.
03-04-14, 02:07 PM
#7
Lexus Champion
Yes, cars like the DTS, Town Car etc. have had their days and the market has moved on and is not going back. It does that with EVERY consumer product. Fond memories and that's about it.
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03-04-14, 02:16 PM
#8
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by pbm317
Give it up mmarshall, you're not getting a floaty cloud ride back, and none of the side door bumper moldings either.
The Lincoln reps, BTW, at the D.C. Auto Show, admitted that dropping the TC was a mistake....they get an earful of it from people complaining at every major auto show, and top management is well aware of it. The problem is, top management doesn't really know how to bring it back (or something else like it) without busting the future CAFE regs. So Lincoln itself is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
And you're at least partly wrong about body-side mouldings. Though some of them are lower than they should be on the body-panels for optimum protection, they are actually coming back on some of the latest-model vehicles, who had dropped them with the last-generation models. If not standard, more vehicles now have them optional. Why are they coming back? Customer complaints.
I don't want to get too far off-topic, though....the thread issue is Cadillac, not Lincoln.
Last edited by mmarshall; 03-04-14 at 02:27 PM.
03-04-14, 02:48 PM
#10
Lexus Fanatic
03-05-14, 02:57 AM
#11
Super Moderator
My parents are in their early 70s, and have a 2012 Genesis 3.8 (which they LOVE!) and a 2001 Outback Sport (which dad likes except for the fuel economy). The latter will likely be replaced by something like a Golf TDI or Fusion Hybrid in the coming years. My Father-in-law is in his mid 70s, and rolls in a 2011 Murano CrossCabriolet, which he immediately fell in love with. To contrast this with the floaty-ride set, his Murano handles quite well for its size--thanks to the factory 20s (that's right, a senior in a droptop rollin' on dubs!)--yet rides comfortably enough.
To drop into the successive generation, my boss is in his late 40s, and is looking to replace his MDX with a Model S, but isn't sure if his younger wife will leave him if he drops $90k on a car
. His boss, about the same age, just traded his E93 335i convertible for a Porsche Cayenne Diesel.The age of the floaty boat is gone, and it's never coming back.
03-05-14, 05:56 AM
#12
Lexus Champion
But just because this generation is reaching the age of the one that liked the TC and DTS, doesn't mean that's the kind of car *they* want.
My parents are in their early 70s, and have a 2012 Genesis 3.8 (which they LOVE!) and a 2001 Outback Sport (which dad likes except for the fuel economy). The latter will likely be replaced by something like a Golf TDI or Fusion Hybrid in the coming years. My Father-in-law is in his mid 70s, and rolls in a 2011 Murano CrossCabriolet, which he immediately fell in love with. To contrast this with the floaty-ride set, his Murano handles quite well for its size--thanks to the factory 20s (that's right, a senior in a droptop rollin' on dubs!)--yet rides comfortably enough.
To drop into the successive generation, my boss is in his late 40s, and is looking to replace his MDX with a Model S, but isn't sure if his younger wife will leave him if he drops $90k on a car. His boss, about the same age, just traded his E93 335i convertible for a Porsche Cayenne Diesel.
The age of the floaty boat is gone, and it's never coming back.
My parents are in their early 70s, and have a 2012 Genesis 3.8 (which they LOVE!) and a 2001 Outback Sport (which dad likes except for the fuel economy). The latter will likely be replaced by something like a Golf TDI or Fusion Hybrid in the coming years. My Father-in-law is in his mid 70s, and rolls in a 2011 Murano CrossCabriolet, which he immediately fell in love with. To contrast this with the floaty-ride set, his Murano handles quite well for its size--thanks to the factory 20s (that's right, a senior in a droptop rollin' on dubs!)--yet rides comfortably enough.
To drop into the successive generation, my boss is in his late 40s, and is looking to replace his MDX with a Model S, but isn't sure if his younger wife will leave him if he drops $90k on a car
. His boss, about the same age, just traded his E93 335i convertible for a Porsche Cayenne Diesel.The age of the floaty boat is gone, and it's never coming back.
03-05-14, 09:11 AM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
My parents are in their early 70s, and have a 2012 Genesis 3.8 (which they LOVE!) and a 2001 Outback Sport (which dad likes except for the fuel economy). The latter will likely be replaced by something like a Golf TDI or Fusion Hybrid in the coming years. My Father-in-law is in his mid 70s, and rolls in a 2011 Murano CrossCabriolet, which he immediately fell in love with. To contrast this with the floaty-ride set, his Murano handles quite well for its size--thanks to the factory 20s (that's right, a senior in a droptop rollin' on dubs!)--yet rides comfortably enough.
The age of the floaty boat is gone, and it's never coming back.
The age of the floaty boat is gone, and it's never coming back.
Like it or not, the XTS has been an embarassment......Consumer Reports rated it far below the Impala in its road test.
03-05-14, 09:20 AM
#14
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Not quite sure how you can substantiate that the XTS is an "embarrassment" since sales,as I noted above, have been quite strong. Most actual owner reviews I've seen online have been positive, even from a lot of long time, multiple Cadillac owners. Yes some quibbles from former DTS consumers about a firmer ride, but it seems to be a small minority.
03-05-14, 09:43 AM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
Not quite sure how you can substantiate that the XTS is an "embarrassment" since sales,as I noted above, have been quite strong. Most actual owner reviews I've seen online have been positive, even from a lot of long time, multiple Cadillac owners. Yes some quibbles from former DTS consumers about a firmer ride, but it seems to be a small minority.
You don't have to take my word for it (since you rarely take my word on other automotive issues as well). Go see for yourself...the test-drive keys are waiting.