Mazdaspeed Forums - Report: General Motors wants to snuff out "Chevy" nickname [w/poll]

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, GM

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Folks, there are bad ideas, and there ones that are legendary in their badness. Unfortunately for General Motors, it would appear that the automaker may very well be lobbying for its own wing in the Dumb Idea Hall of Fame. The New York Times reports that a memo distributed to workers at the company's headquarters earlier this week instructs them to cease referring to the Chevrolet brand by its long-standing nickname, Chevy. Going forward, only Chevrolet is to be used. The reasoning? So-called branding consistency. If you're thinking, "That's insane," well, we don't blame you.

It gets better.

The Times further points out that the memo, signed by Chevy marketing vice president Jim Campbell (you see what we did there) and Alan Batey, VP of Chevy sales and service (there we go again), uses Coke - Coke - as an example of what GM is trying to achieve with this approach. It would seem that the powers-that-be at the RenCen are oblivious to the irony that Coke is, of course, shorthand for the company's formal name, Coca-Cola.

In a nutshell, we feel that the Coke comparison GM uses in the memo is ultimately rather apt, given that the idea of memory-holing "Chevy" as part of some absurd branding exercise seems destined to be a failure on the level of New Coke. GM has got its work cut out for itself, regardless. As of right now, Chevrolet.com has 5,480 "Chevy" mentions on it according to Google. GM.com? 1,730 more. That Chevy is inextricably tied to Chevrolet is a reality that GM's marketers are apparently divorced from.

We can't be the only ones who think this is perhaps the very worst in a long history of horrible ideas... So, what's your take? Hit the jump and have your say in our poll. Thanks to CpuYoda for the tip!

[Source: The New York Times]Continue reading Report: General Motors wants to snuff out "Chevy" nickname [w/poll]

Report: General Motors wants to snuff out "Chevy" nickname [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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