Chevy is advertising a new campaign called “Total Confidence Plan”. During the commercial, Chevy compares their products’ recent fuel efficiency improvement to those of Honda. At the end of the 30 second clip, it shows Honda lawnmower and tells that’s what Honda is good at creating (You can watch the video at the end of this post).
I declare this is approach a huge mistake for the brand. It will work for short gain, but not long and here is why.
Chevy is trying to be like Honda, trying to be everything for everyone.
Think about Chevy’s greatness for a moment, the brand can present the Corvette, Silverado and Tahoe. These vehicles are rightfully respected and owners swear by it. In fact, these vehicles are built on America’s pride. When people think about Chevy as a brand, these vehicles first come to mind. But in order to push Malibu (I drive Malibu by the way), now Chevy is trying to gain market share in niches previously dominated by Japanese automakers.
Huge Disconnect
In the past, people bought Chevy based on American attributes. It’s a tough economy, and there is an intense pressure from shareholders for GM, but if Chevy attempts to sell more vehicles by marketing “cheaper Camry”, they’re only setting up themselves for a failure.
Their customers, at least the most loyal ones don’t want Chevy to change. Chevy is turning into a brand that they don’t recognize. Toyota and Honda are not what they’re originally drawn to when they bought Chevy in the past.
No matter how great it is, Malibu cannot compete against Camry or Accord at the same or higher price. No matter how superior their features are to Camry or Accord, Malibu will never sell at higher price than the Japanese rivals.
Here is why. The market for Camry and Honda aren’t broken, yet. There has not been any disconnect there. People still love Camry and Accord and the two vehicles haven’t disappointed enough people.
Malibu Is Creating a Commodity
On the other hand, once you get tempted to introduce cheaper product line, it’ll become exactly that. The the small profit margin and the cost of manufacturing (and fuel) goes up every year, yet Chevy is creating a “cheaper Camry”.
Toyota and Honda can easily outprice their vehicles by thousands of dollars and fewer rebates. Simply because their brand identities appeal so much superior. In the meantime, Chevy must sell more vehicles in order to close the profit gap.
Buyers Are Irrational
Porsche 911 owners all understand that they’re vehicles don’t accelerate or stop faster than the Chevy Corvette. They know it’s cheaper to buy Corvette, but they still want the 911. But both Corvette and 911 have a following and remain popular because they don’t attempt to change their individual DNA. Buyers are drawn to different things for different reasons, and catering to that is easier than evangelizing a new concept to the unconverted customers.
What “Total Confidence” campaign is trying to do is evangelizing. It’s trying to convert Camry and Accord owners into Malibu owners. But, the only reason people go from Camry and Accord to Malibu will be because it’s “cheaper”. In fact, it’s a compromise, the same reason people go to McDonald’s when they have to.
Go ahead Chevy, just to see how trying to be everything for everyone will work for you.
See Total Confidence Plan video on YouTube.
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