Marketing with Video and Rich Media Blog

GM strikes out on YouTube

What is the marketing brain-trust at Government Motors thinking?

You’ve survived bankruptcy by taking in billions of taxpayers dollars and you are facing the lingering effects of one of the worst recessions in our lifetime – one that could potentially  hollow out a huge portion of this continent’s middle class (the folks that buy most of your cars). You’ve been building mediocre automobiles for years and there is little to show for your investments in innovation. You are now pinning a great deal of your credibility {insert sarcastic comment here}  on a (partly) electric car called the Volt. You need to hit this one waaaaaaay out of the park. What do you do?

Amongst other things you pen a feeble song, you stage a 1960′s style showroom dance promotion, you capture them both on cheaply produced video and throw them up on the YouTube channel you have specifically created to promote your new game-changing car to the masses.

Ouch.

(Kudos to GM for allowing comments on the Volt YouTube channel – that was rather brave)