So with all the kerfuffle around the GM bankruptcy (and the gajillions of dollars we’ll all be shelling out to save its butt from the fire), the one thing that gets forgotten as always is the brand strategy angle: 60-90 days from now, GM will be re-emerging from bankruptcy under a new coporate banner. Now, [...]

GM announced yesterday that it would be phasing out the Pontiac brand, after 83 years. The burning question in my mind is: who killed the brand? The Sunbird? The Montana? The Aztek? One thing is for sure. Pontiac cars, at one time, appealed to a young, hip demographic. At some point in the last 30 [...]

In a busy world of brands, differentiation is generally thought to be a good thing – so goes the title of this blog. But differentiation in the North American auto industry has brought about a sort of cannibalistic competition among brands owned by the same manufacturer. Take Ford’s Mercury brand as an example. In today’s [...]