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John Tantillo's Brand Winner... And Loser: GM and FDR Liberalism
Posted by The Marketing Doctor at 8/24/2009 10:51 AM 
Categories: Marketing
Tags: Whole Foods leftist Tantillo socialism auto industry Marxism Buick New DEal brand Vuick proto-Marxist un-American Saturn politics American branding communism General Motors marketing Liberalism Roosevelt GM communist Dickens proto-Marxism FDR Depression John Mackey Americans Marxist
Categories: Marketing
Tags: Whole Foods leftist Tantillo socialism auto industry Marxism Buick New DEal brand Vuick proto-Marxist un-American Saturn politics American branding communism General Motors marketing Liberalism Roosevelt GM communist Dickens proto-Marxism FDR Depression John Mackey Americans Marxist
Brand Winner… | And Loser |
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John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:
Winner: GM
Loser: FDR Liberalism
Folks, here we go:
The Winner
General Motors is this week’s winner for listening.
The company so well known for not listening to its customers and embracing the “build it and they will come” motto for so long looks like they are a-changin’.
Last week GM promptly killed the “Vuick” (pictured above) after customers were not impressed by what they saw as a clumsy re-packaging of existing models.
Eight days —that must be a record, especially considering how much planning still had to go into it.
A publicity stunt? I don’t think so —a blogger over at the Detroit Free Press makes a good argument as to why.
Bottom line: a few months, ago the Marketing Doctor received some heat for proclaiming that GM might very well be on the road to brand renewal and profitability.
Behold Exhibit “A.” With brands, sometimes not doing is as important as doing. And the faster you don’t do something can be key. Hats off to GM.
The Loser
I’m not one for kicking a dead horse, but, unfortunately, this is one bad horse that simply will not die.
I’m talking about the health care push.
Last week, I wrote about why the current health care reform vision does not fit with America’s brand and will therefore fail.
This week, it occurred to me that I needed to talk about one of the underlying brand “assumptions” that I think is doing more harm than good to Democrats.
I’m talking, of course, about the legacy of FDR liberalism.
I mentioned this last week, but folks —we are simply not living in Charles Dickens’ England, when proto-Marxism might have made sense against the sharp injustices of the times. Nor are we living in Depression-era America, when there were genuine revolutionary pressures from the left, and a little leftward movement on the part of FDR probably defused that pressure and made capitalism stronger for the long run.
FDR did what he had to do (and could get away with) when he took office. He listened to what the majority of the electorate wanted —which was to do something for the majority, so that the American financial system could get back on its feet. This is just not true today —the needs of the electorate are being mis-read.
What I’m saying is this: Democrats run the risk of leaving a big chunk of the American electorate behind if they continue to act as if their starting (and ending) point is FDR liberalism.
Why?
Because the 75 years since the New Deal have shown the incredible dynamism of our capitalistic, achievement-oriented society. Even communist China is embracing this model. European countries are relaxing socialist tendencies. Capitalism has proven itself for the masses, and it meshes with the American brand of individuality and self-sufficiency.
The American people know this and, by and large, have seen the positive consequences of the capitalistic model in their own lives. They are also happy that the full extent of FDR liberalism was never implemented. Even in the darkest of times, they were suspicious of it and they remain so. As I said last week, situational help is American; permanently institutionalized help is not.
Bottom line: the Democrats need to jettison Roosevelt. His liberalism cannot be their default position if they want to continue to win elections by meeting the needs of the American people.
On a related note, a minor brand loser from last week is Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey, who made the mistake of forgetting his customers when he waded into the health care debate, instantly politicizing his company’s brand. (The moral here is: your customers don’t worry about your politics until you make them worry about your politics).
And remember, it’s always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.
TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -
Your customers never care about your politics until you make them care about your politics. Don’t.
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