Criticizing its unjustified silence, dealers are now asking for a national ad campaign as a compensation for the negative news regarding the company possibly going bankrupt, the Advertising Age reported.
"I would like them to make any kind of bold move," said Bob Bakshi, a dealer in Valencia, California, who handles Buick-Pontiac-GMC and Cadillac. "I think a bold move is needed, like 'Keep America Rolling.'"
In addition, Mike Jackson, former VP-marketing and advertising in North America who left the boat in summer 2007 also criticized GM's attitude of "just sitting back" and taking a "business as usual" approach to marketing.
In fact, the car maker's GMC brand launched a new national TV commercial last week, emphasizing the heritage of the Sierra full-size pickup and how its cars could be used for building roads and infrastructure.
However, at the beginning of the year, the Detroit giant announced its plans to reduce advertising and marketing budgets this year due to the financial downturn and therefore, it is highly unlikely that such a campaign will actually take place so soon.
As a matter of fact, GM's Mark LaNeve, VP-vehicle marketing, sales and service in North America refused to give any details about whether new ads are coming or not.
"We do believe we've got a great story to tell about how we've reinvented the company and our cars for the future, and we need to tell it. We will do that." He even claimed that news stories are telling GM's story "for us".
Voices say that the Detroit-based automaker is waiting until March 31 to see whether they get the loan or not and if the credit is approved, then GM will certainly have a public position about all those negative news regarding its uncertain future.
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