Say “Chevy” Pay a Fine
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Amidst Toyota’s continuing legal woes, ongoing clean-up attempts in the Gulf of Mexico, and designing new, green technology that is both functional and affordable, it’s nice to have a lighter story once in a while. Here’s today’s: the New York Times apparently found a memo that GM sent to its employees on Tuesday, instructing them to fall in line with consistent branding and stop using the nickname “Chevy” for “Chevrolet.”
When the paper ran the story, GM apparently responded, claiming to understand that there was an “emotional debate” to the name useage, and embracing use of the nickname by customers…as well as admitting that the memo was not well-written. While the note was not signed by GM’s new marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, formerly of Nissan, but it was signed by Alan Batey, vice president of Chevrolet sales and service, and Jim Campbell, the division’s vice president of marketing.
The text of the memo is, in part:
“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 …
“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 … Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer.”
After the Times noted that “Coke” is short for “Coca-Cola” and cited an expert’s opinion that the GM initiative was counter to the trend of casual branding (i.e. KFC for Kentucky Fried Chicken), Autoblog also got into the fray, stating, “We feel that the Coke comparison GM uses in the memo is ultimately rather apt, given that the idea of memory-holing ‘Chevy’ as part of some absurd branding exercise seems destined to be a failure on the level of New Coke.”
GM, in turn, responded, “We love Chevy. In no way are we discouraging customers or fans from using the name. We deeply appreciate the emotional connections that millions of people have for Chevrolet and its products. In global markets, we are establishing a significant presence for Chevrolet, and need to move toward a consistent brand name for advertising and marketing purposes. The memo in question was one step in that process.”
The perfect cap to this story? There’s a postscript to the memo which mentions a plastic can in the hallway and says, “Every time someone uses ‘Chevy’ rather than Chevrolet,” an employee is expected to pay a quarter.
But brand consistency should begin at home, and, as Automotive News points out:
GM’s own Twitter page says “Talking Chevy One Tweet at a Time.” It has also sponsored links on Google driving folks to the Web site by calling it “The Official Chevy Site.”
In addition, the URL “chevy.com” redirects Web users to the full brand name.
That’s going to add up to a LOT of quarters…