IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Chevrolet

  • See the USA in Your Chevrolet, or See China in Your Buick

    Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. That line from this 1970s ad for Chevrolet exhibits the brand’s position as an American icon.

    Fast-forward several decades, and General Motors’ Chevy is still an iconic American brand. Meanwhile, in China, the Chevrolet brand is still young. Chevy is China’s seventh-best selling brand, although two models, the Cruze (sold in North America) and the Sail are strong sellers.

    While Chevy is still catching on in China, another longtime GM brand from the United States holds popular: Buick.

    lugzaoaf2otau1jrolprYou may be asking yourself: Buick? Isn’t that the car for old people? Not so the case in China! In 2013, four times as many Buicks were sold in China than in the U.S.  Nearly 810,000 Buicks were sold in China, compared to over 205,000 stateside.

    What explains Buick’s popularity in China? The answer is rooted in the early 20th century when important Chinese government figures such as president Dr. Sun Yat-sen, premier Zhou Enlai, and emperor Pu Yi either owned, drove, or were driven around in Buicks. This historical background adds to Buick’s image of upper class and prestige. Their advertising uses images of success to propel Buick to a high-end brand, such as in this Buick Excelle ad from the 2000s.

    Establishing global brand coherence has its difficulties. To contrast, in the United States, Buick is having trouble shaking off the “55-to-dead” demographic, and they tackle that problem in this new ad that features the demographic commonly associated with the brand in the U.S. with the desired target demographic in the driver’s seat of the brand-new 2014 Buicks:

    GM isn’t the only American automaker popular with the Chinese. Ford’s sales in China rose 49 percent in 2013, and the Ford Focus was China’s best-selling car that year. NPR interviewed 32-year-old Li Ning, who said he bought a Focus because he likes its muscular American style. In China, Ford is establishing its image as young and trendy.

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    Auto China 2014, the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, kicked off on April 20th and runs until April 29th. At Auto China, Ford is introducing a luxury brand familiar to Americans—Lincoln.

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    Lincoln’s model of selling cars in China is called “The Lincoln Way” and features luxurious showrooms that feel like a five-star hotel. Lincoln plans to focus on building customer relationships by understanding and fulfilling their needs. Lincoln may bring this style of personal selling to the U.S. based on how it works in China.

    Only time will tell if Ford’s effort to introduce the Lincoln brand to China will be a success. Will it become a competitor to Buick, which is already established as a strong luxury brand in China? Are there other ways in which this is an example of globalization?

    –Nathan Evers

  • To sponsor or not to sponsor…

    Penn state is an iconic brand it itself. This brand’s football team alone generates $53 million in revenue annually from the football games, and the entire athletic program receives an additional $24 million in sponsorships and merchandising deals. The team’s brand: The Nittany Lion, has been in jeopardy since the sexual abuse scandal began unraveling and continues to be making headlines in the news. With the story still on the minds of students and faculty, it is still a heavy situation for the sponsors of the school and team. Pepsi announced on Wednesday that it will remain a sponsor of the school and its team. Pepsi has been one of the university’s largest corporate partners, and is on prominent on both in both the sports stadiums as well as Penn State’s main State College campus. In its original deal with the school in 1992, Pepsi Co. paid Penn State $14 million over 10 years for exclusive vending and advertising rights. In this deal, soft drinks are served in Pepsi cups on game day and the signage is anchored by a permanent Pepsi logo on the scoreboard of the 106,537-seat football stadium.

    The Penn State situation eerily reflects the Tiger Woods scandal along with his loss of sponsors. The status of Penn State’s other advertisers other than Pepsi remains uncertain. Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn, on Wednesday expressed that the casino’s deal with Penn State football “technically” ended for the year. Penn State also has sponsors from AT&T (T), Berks Hot Dogs and Chesapeake Energy (CHK). For now, these sponsors still remain, but the future of their sponsorships of the university are uncertain.

    Other high-profile sponsors such as Chevrolet, PNC Financial, John Deere, State Farm Insurance and the American Red Cross are staying put for now. So what does this all mean? Large corporations are also in jeopardy of being in the line of fire for continuing to sponsor a school that has done nothing to protect victims of sexual molestation. Iconic Brands like Penn State and Pepsi have a developed a strong relationship over the years, and will continue to keep their partnership. It poses the question that when is a situation too much for a corporation; what is the breaking point? With modern-day heroes such as Joe Paterno (Penn State) and Tiger Woods, being the center of major scandals which in turn led to the loss of major sponsorship and thus embarrassment for them and their sponsors;  is it in the best interest of Pepsi to remain with Penn State? You be the judge?

    — Michela Noreski, Jordan Hill, Ashley Nelson