Not a brand for the faint-hearted

Car For the launch of new model versions, McCann-Erickson injects a self-confident image paint job onto the Opel range.
Automobile importers have stopped publishing their sales statistics due to
due to a serious database problem. Until April
They paint a picture of a market for new cars that continues to decline sharply.
The Swiss Automobile Industry Association is somewhat more optimistic about the
situation, but even in his figures one recognizes the persistent
Stagnation. Opel has been hit hard by this slump in consumption. With a good
23,000 new cars sold last year - 5800 fewer
as top seller VW - Opel, the number two in Switzerland, always drove
still in reverse gear. In 2001, 15 percent more new cars rolled onto the
Swiss roads than in 2004, Opel registrations fell in the
by around 29.3 percent in the same period.

Advertising expenditure curbed
How bad is it for the German GM brand that the negative trend continues despite
the introduction of several new models could not be broken?
What is certain is that, with the exception of 2004, advertising expenditure since 1999 has
have been throttled back considerably. This is due to decreasing visibility on
the roads is a very difficult starting position, because the
volume brand is not even present in the media and the
Brand acceptance increasingly controlled by external influencers
whose relationship with Opel is characterized by hearsay.

The brand of the sensible Bünzlis
The Pulse study conducted by the McCann-Erickson Switzerland in-house agency in
Ahead of the promotional presentation of new model versions 
confirms the state of mind and perception of the
Brand: The Family Builders group, of all things
Successful models such as the Zafira and Astra seem to enjoy a high level of acceptance.
There was sometimes a strong sense of rejection: just not an Opel,
was the tenor of many of them. And among Opel-driving test subjects
many justified their choice of brand from a defensive position
and unconsciously reinforced the cliché of the bourgeois,
down-to-earth Opel owner.
Since the rational, hard facts and consistently positive driving reports
have hardly been able to strengthen its image in the long term, McCann's
creative minds that the deficit in "soft" brand dimensions leads to the
discrepancy in perception. The current - mainly
adapted - Opel advertising that focuses purely on product communication,
can hardly reach people with a negative attitude towards Opel,
let alone convince them. A campaign for various models with
image component - for the first time after three years - this should
correct.

With image ads based on a concept of prejudice, the company tries to
the team around CD Timo Kirez has improved the image - no, not of the brand, but -
of the uncool and well-behaved Opel drivers in order to correct
to encourage potential new customers. Playing with prejudices
results of the Pulse study and presents them in the wrong way.
again. The false bottom turns out to be a
an indication of special features such as equipment, design or
loading space, which are positively coded. The main targets are the
Identity and Career Builders segments because, on the one hand, these
have fewer prejudices and, on the other hand, the new models are already
partially perceived.  
 

Luca Aloisi