I spy with my BrandsEye: General Motors Brand Reinvention

This week on I Spy, we spotted General Motors making an industry first in their use of Social Media to activate an extremely sensitive turnaround campaign.

The world has been watching the collapse of the motor industry amidst the turmoil of a sinking global economy. But this grand daddy of the industry is fighting back with a surprising take on business. They have released an online video aimed at consumers that is honest and informative. So honest in fact, that many have balked at the idea of a company advertising their bankruptcy. After watching the clip, even the sceptics will have to admit to being swept up in the captivating feel good visuals and soundtrack. What makes this move strategic is the combination of the viral with GM’s reinvention blog which is slick and well thought out. It hits all the right consumer notes by linking to Flickr, Twitter and Facebook. GM hopes that this campaign will mark the beginning of a new era for the American motor industry. Let’s see if they are on the right track.

Where are the mentions coming from?

 
The origin of the mentions is super interesting with a massive 65.17% coming from Consumer mentions and 23.6% from Enterprise mentions. Press mentions make up the rest at 11.24%. One thing that is alarming is the lack of Press mentions. When one of the hardest hit giants in an industry crippled by the slumping economy fights back in such a radical way, surely it is worthy of a couple more Press mentions? Well perhaps the rest of the Press will recognise the story in GM’s brand reinvention, but will it be too late?

Even more interesting is the number of consumer mentions. This is most likely due to the nature of the campaign. Aimed at the consumers, it is packaged to be talked about, and their online YouTube video has taken on a viral quality. 50% of these mentions are coming from blogs and 50% of these blog mentions carried a credibility of 4 or higher. This is a remarkably high credibility for blogs and shows that a few influential bloggers have taken on the story and spread it. This is probably exactly what GM were hoping for. And it gets better for GM, 75% of these mentions carried a +2 endorsement sentiment. So the right message is being spread by the right people!

The rest of the Consumer mentions are coming from Twitter which shows that the message has spread. These mentions don’t carry a very high credibility, but 62.5% of the mentions carried +2 endorsement sentiment. This Twitter mention shows that GM is hitting the right note with consumers: “GM Reinvention commercial. Message is clear, concise and honest. Great decision for their brand.”

Is anything negative being said?

 
 
The majority of the mentions have a positive sentiment with 50% of the mentions being rated with a +2 Endorsement and 20% of the mentions being rated with a +3 Praise. However there are negative mentions which should never be ignored no matter how few. 15% of the mentions have been rated with a -1 Downplay and these mentions all follow the same thread, the GM Brand Re-invention spoof video. The spoof is harsh and undermines GM’s message. It hasn’t taken on a viral quality yet, with only 15 % of the mentions relating to the video. That said it does have the ability to put a small hole in GM’s bubble.

So has GM re-invented their reputation?
 

 
Despite the spoof video resulting in negative mentions, GM has managed to maintain a high reputation score through-out the week of rating. Starting fairly low at the beginning of the week, GM’s reputation increased and then levelled out at an impressive 2.07 (out of a possible 5). It seems GM is well on their way to reaching their goals.

GM’s Brand Reinvention makes a great case study about a well thought out, consumer driven campaign. What this post shows is that the campaign is working according to GM’s plan, despite the one obvious spoof video stain. Will GM’s campaign be strong enough to withstand the attack? Will they use their already in place channels (brand reinvention blog) to respond? These are a few of the questions we will be answering in next week’s I Spy.