Washingtonian features DC Metro Map on Cover after Last Month’s Fatal Crash

I was in the grocery store last night and while waiting in the checkout aisle I could not help but notice this month’s Washingtonian. What caught my attention about this particular edition of the Washingtonian was the cover image design. It features a map resembling the Washington Metro system, but instead of charting station names it instead lists out popular places, people and things to do in the nation’s capital. What struck me about the cover design were two things…

Newspapers are the only Industry Sector run worse than the Automakers

The media has been relentlessly bashing GM with negative front page headlines for almost two decades now. Newspaper writers across the country have criticized GM for failing to react to changing market conditions with innovative new products; failing to create enough value to attract financing from private capital sources; and failing to overcome its challenges with labor unions and infrastructure overcapacity. My response to this is “Hello? Newspaper editors– look in the mirror!” If there is any industry that is run more poorly that the US automotive sector has been in recent years it is the newspaper business!

Why does GM invest so much money in the Media Titans who have damaged its Reputation?

In my last post, I made the case that the media industry, not the unions or debt holders, are the biggest obstacle to GM’s success in the US market. However, despite decades of front-page articles and headlines criticizing GM’s management team, the company has remained loyal to traditional advertising approaches to drive demand for its products. I find it particularly ironic that GM continues to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the very companies that are profiting from its demise. Consider that in 2009, GM has spent $112M on newspaper advertising this year alone, which amounts to 27% of its overall advertising budget.

The Newspapers (not the Unions or the Debt Holders) are GM’s Largest Obstacle to Success

The biggest problem that GM has suffered from since the 1980s is negative public perception – both at a corporate and a product level. Despite numerous management changes and strategy shifts, GM has failed to convince the American public that is an innovative company which can build high quality vehicles. From my perspective, one of the biggest reasons that GM has been unable to overcome its public perception dilemma is the on-going negative attention it receives in the media. For as long as I can remember (at least over the past 20 years), GM has served as a punching bag for the media.

Should Equity Research be cited in Corporate Marketing Messages?

Last week UPS was forced to stop running a television ad that claimed it had been “ranked the most reliable” package-shipping company. The source of the ranking referenced by UPS was a study conducted by Morgan Stanley in November of 2008. Morgan updated its Parcel Return Survey in April, which resulted in FedEx receiving the top ranking. What I find interesting is not whether FedEx or UPS were ranked higher, but that the source of the data is an equity research report from an investment banking firm.

Microsoft should Display Ads instead of Error on Publicly Facing PCs

I was walking through Dulles Airport on my way home from a conference I attended in Boston today. As I was walking I noticed a number of the flight departure/arrival display monitors were offline. Instead of displaying the flight lists, they had the familiar Windows message indicating that the application trying to be accessed was not available. Instead of displaying messages about memory errors or web site page not available, why don’t they display advertisements?

Microsoft takes a Bite out of Apple’s Core Strengths with New TV Ads

In my opinion, Microsoft’s advertising campaigns are among the worst I have seen in any industry. I find both their print and television campaigns to be non-impactful. It is not clear to me what the message is supposed to be and who the target audience is. The Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld commercials introduced last fall were totally lost on me. But in this latest series of Laptop Hunter ads that aired during the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, Microsoft has turned it around!