What General Motors can learn from Jack Northrop

Many years ago I had the privilege of working with GM’s new interim chairman, Kent Kresa. Sure, I know the guy probably doesn’t remember me, but that won’t stop me from telling the world that both of us share a connection – we both worked at the company started by aviation pioneer, Jack Northrop.

General Motors has stumbled in many ways. However, since marketing brands is our business, we’ll stick to GMs use – or misuse – of advertising. GM has poured tens of millions of dollars into advertising; advertising that does nothing to sell cars and trucks. As we like to ask, “If advertising is so great, then why don’t advertising agencies advertise?”

GM has a great product. My father had GM cars, I had GM cars, my son had a GM car. They are solid and outlast any other brand. GM vehicles are a great value for the money. Yet, their advertising is failing to sell a great product. Therein is the problem: advertising rarely sells products.

One of Jack Northrop’s strengths was building a genuine atmosphere of family with his employees and customers. Funny, that is how most companies are built and sustained. When customers feel an authentic relationship with the product they tend to talk about the product to their friends. More than 87% of products are sold by word of mouth and relationships. I remember being at Northrop and the Division General Manager, Bruce James, knew just about all two thousand of us by name. That carried over into the relationship with the customer.

General Motors has lost the connection with the customer. The brand is dead, or soon will be if the management and marketing team does not dump traditional advertising and go back to the foundations that build brands – relationship marketing; they need to use the same methods of building authentic Brand.Relationships® we encourage our customers to use.

General Motors needs to build the team and family atmosphere internally. It is not just a job; it is a family affair. Jack Northrop knew that his employees from management to contracts to engineering to manufacturing were his strongest assets. The attitude must then naturally extend to the marketing. 

When you care about a product, you’ll likely go to bat for the product. You tell your friends. Basic stuff. GM needs to leverage their satisfied customers. Not in traditional, sappy TV spots and print ads, but in new and innovate ways. (You want to know how? That is why you hire us. I’m not going to give away the store.) Branding is, after all, managed word-of-mouth – and what we do better than anyone else. And, It gets results.