The economy is in a ditch and if you are working in traditional media or financial services, the ditch is deep and scary. Another American industry that is in dire straits is automobile manufacturing.
The auto industry has suffered one paroxysm after another in the past decade with General Motors killing off its most venerable brand—Oldsmobile, Chrysler being bought and later sold by Mercedes Benz, and Ford ending up being run by someone without that iconic last name. All of this came before the current economic slump that has Wall St. and Main St. reeling.
The latest news out of Detroit—where each of the Big Three is going through between $500 million and $1 billion in cash each month just to stay open—is that GM is pursuing a merger with Chrysler, which, in essence, would leave us with the Big Two.
If completed, this won’t be a merger of equals; GM will simply absorb and dismantle Chrysler. Of the 26 model lines now offered by Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, a mere seven are expected to survive.
Now those seven models may reflect 56 percent of Chrysler’s sales, but they also represent something else—icons of the automotive world. Pegged for survival are the Jeep Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited and Grand Cherokee, Dodge Ram pickup, Chrysler 300C/Dodge Charger sedans, and the Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Caravan minivans.
Which brings us to today’s questions: what is iconic about your business and what are you doing to promote and protect those core assets? Creating, displaying and managing superior content can help reinforce a positive public image and can combat a flagging public image. Icons can’t be created through marketing; there has to be an organic component. And the organic portion is what must be nurtured.
What are you doing to support your icons?
— Jonathan
April 11th, 2009 at 6:25 am
An interesting view of the automotive industry. Where do you see the future of the industry, will it ever recover or will there be major casulties?