Another spin for ‘buy American’  ( June '18,2007, FE)

General Motors has clearly been hurt by consumers who simply refuse to buy an American brand of vehicle. But the automaker has decided to use its heritage as a competitive advantage rather than a weakness, since it is one adjective that competitors like Toyota and Honda cannot use.

“Buy American” has always been an undercurrent in GM’s advertising, but the theme has been showing up more forcefully of late. This spring General Motors has run three marketing campaigns centered on its American roots. “Even the staunchest American car rejecter is rooting for American cars,” said Eric Hirshberg, president of Deutsch Los Angeles, the advertising agency behind the current campaign for GM’s Saturn brand. “They just don’t think they’re good enough quality, or they’re set against them for whatever reason. But everybody in this country has an affinity for American cars and wants to get behind them.”

Deutsch, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, developed the slogan “Rethink American” for Saturn; the campaign, which began running about a month ago, includes television, print, online and billboard components. Saturn itself was introduced by GM in 1990 to lure buyers who were considering an import brand.

These days, however, some Saturn vehicles are not particularly American. They are largely based on Opel models that are designed and sold in Europe, and some of the cars sold in the United States are manufactured abroad. Yet Saturn has been enjoying significantly higher sales thanks to its new lineup.

In addition, GM’s redesigned full-size pickup truck, the Chevrolet Silverado, is featured in patriotic spots set to the John Mellencamp ballad “Our Country.” The ads, created by Campbell-Ewald, a unit of Interpublic, tie into Chevrolet’s tagline, “An American revolution.”

In May, GM drew attention to a Memorial Day sale at Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealerships with ads thanking American soldiers and offering to collect letters for the troops overseas. And last fall, GM signed on the conservative radio host Sean Hannity for a promotion called the “Great American Car Giveaway.”

Despite these patriotic appeals, a GM spokeswoman, Ryndee Carney, said the automaker is trying to play up its vehicles’ amenities more than their heritage. “You see more of our advertising talking specifically about the product and the brand as opposed to ‘We’re American,’” Carney said.

Saturn’s ads highlight safety features, fuel economy and critical acclaim. Still, each spot ensures that consumers know that the brand is American. Hirshberg of Deutsch described the campaign as “the opposite of a buy-American campaign,” noting that a newspaper ad for the Aura sedan begins, “Don’t buy it because it’s American. Buy it because it’s amazing.” The ads are meant to persuade consumers that Saturn has improved considerably since it began selling entry-level vehicles and that the brand should prompt people with low opinions of American vehicles to take another look. “‘Rethink American’ is not a patriotism campaign,” Hirshberg said. “It’s a ‘rethink your rejection of American’ campaign.” Although Saturn’s sales have been rising, GM will have difficulty persuading people who have spurned American vehicles that they have improved, said Jim Hossack, a consultant with AutoPacific in Tustin, Calif.

GM is not the only American automaker that has been playing up its roots in this country. Ford Motor tries to rally its employees around the slogan “Red, White and Bold,” and Ford executives talk of the company’s goal to “embody the American spirit” and to become “America’s car company.” In addition, Ford is a prominent sponsor of the “American Idol” singing competition on the Fox network.