There are (at least) four things that are inevitable in life:
- Death.
- Taxes.
- Swade will rag on GM when they give him a reason.
- GM will always give Swade a reason.
I’m getting over it slowly, but it’s a Saab thing.
Anyway….
Carmelo Anthony is one of those basketball players who has immense talent but nearly zero chance of ever winning a championship. He comes across as a guy who feels entitled, self-centred; the type of player who’ll sulk if he’s not the leader but lacks the personality traits to actually lead.
Despite this, he’s the highest paid player in the highest profile team based in the most glamorous city in the United States. By some measures, he can lay claim to being the man. But those measures won’t be ones devised by people that matter.
And so follows my likening of Carmelo to Cadillac.
Cadillac, like Carmelo, has some talent. I drove a CTS in Canada back in 2008 and it was obviously a well executed car. Reputations take a long time to build in the car business, though, and Cadillac’s done little to deserve a contemporary moniker akin to it’s old ‘Standard Of The World’. In fact, Cadillac still tries to ride that reputation even though the company’s product started to wane in the 1960’s.
To build a reputation based on your current product doesn’t take one big hit, it takes a generation of hits. Cadillac’s philosophy seems to be “fake it til you make it”. Claim greatness where little-to-no greatness actually exists. If you say it enough, then enough people will believe it so you can sell some cars.
Witness the ad for the Cadillac ELR. I find it hard to believe that they found enough focus group participants who thought this was aspirational to approve it. My guess is that the people in the focus group worked for Cadillac itself.
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Have you ever seen a greater display of hubris in all your life? Have you ever wanted to be someone less than you want to be that guy?
And here’s the rub…..
The Chevrolet Volt, on which the Cadillac ELR is based, is reputed to be a very good vehicle. I’m sure that extra luxuries added to the ELR make it an excellent vehicle. But so much of that can be undone by some guy acting like a tool in a video commercial.
Here’s a tip: make something so great that others talk about how good it is.
BMW didn’t have to do an ad like this through the 90’s or the 00’s because every car magazine in the world talked up the quality and driving dynamics of the 3-series.
Can you imagine Cadillac doing something that good?
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This Cadillac ad only came to my attention because of a bunch of articles last week about Ford’s parody of it. I don’t like the Ford ad much, either, because it’s so obviously trying to be contrarian that it comes across as a little bit fake, too. That’s a pity, because from what I read, that lady’s efforts deserve better than scripted opportunism.
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Bottom line: this is what GM do. They claim a reputation bigger than they deserve and just like Carmelo Anthony, I hold no hope for them ever winning a championship.
At least Carmelo will get a chance to do it the Gary Payton way, being a sixth/seventh/eighth man on a championship team when he should rightfully be in retirement.
GM and Cadillac? They’ll have to produce a generation of genuine world-beating product all on their own. Claiming it before then with BS ads like the ELR spot is only going to dig their hole a little bit deeper.
