By Don Klein

Chevrolet is about to launch an ad campaign that exemplifies how being slavish to global messaging can result in weak advertising. The goal is no longer to come up with a smart combination of words that will resonate with a national audience; the drill now is to find slogans that will work in every market around the world. These slogans don’t have to be clever or motivating, so long as they don’t lose anything in translation.

Despite seismic shifts in foreign consumers’ acceptance of bold new American products like smartphones and tablets, the prevailing thought for global marketing messaging is apparently to play it safe. And although it’s an urban legend, the story about Chevy’s Nova failing in Latin America because the name means “doesn’t go” in Spanish seems to remain a respected cautionary tale, at least for GM: Better to be innocuous than confusing, or even worse, stupid. And Chevy’s new tag line is most assuredly innocuous. What’s not to like? Nothing. But the real question is, what’s to like? Same answer.

In the past, Chevy has given us campaigns that were uniquely American, from the iconic “See the USA in Your Chevrolet” and “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet” to “An American Revolution” and “Like a Rock.” Even the soon-to-be-departed “Chevy Runs Deep” evoked an emotional, nationalistic response. But times have changed and Americans have learned that Europe and Asia make good cars, too. So, yes, Chevy’s share of domestic market slippage in recent years might well call for fresh creative to go along with the 20 or so new products the brand says it’s bringing to market worldwide in 2013. But if anything, that makes a case for a campaign that’s unique to Chevy—not a theme that’s vague and generic, especially when other global auto marketers are saying essentially the same thing. Toyota’s new campaign is “Let’s Go Places.” Ford’s is “Go Further.” How are they meaningfully different from “Find New Roads?”

The 2014 Chevrolet Impala, a car Chevy hopes you go find roads in.

In a press release about the new theme, GM says it will “guide every aspect of our business going forward” including design, engineering, and retail operations. In other words, it’s as much a corporate mantra as consumer campaign. As car enthusiasts, do we really care about GM’s internal pep rallies? Don’t we expect the General to keep innovating and improving? Better it should use its annual global ad budget (all $4.5 billion of it) to tell us something about GM cars. For the company’s sake, let’s hope it does, despite the insipid tag line.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver