Book Review: Branding Iron
Charlie Hughes and William Jeanes, a longtime automotive exec and a writer who’s worked in the industry for years, take a pretty hard shot at U.S. automakers in their soon-to-be-released book, “Branding Iron.”
Hughes and Jeanes don’t offer much in the way of new thinking about the mess that U.S. automakers are in: They tell GM that it needs to cut way back on the number of brands it has; they tell both GM and Ford to build cars that are more distinctive, less cookie-cutter; and they tell all automakers to stop chasing every car buyer and focus just on those who are likely to buy their brand.
This is all good advice and we’ve recently heard about GM combining more of its brands under fewer dealerships. The authors ask why GM should offer virtually the same truck under four different badges? Where I disagree with them is when they suggest that GM cut Hummer because the manufacturer already makes enough trucks. To me, at least a Hummer is distinctive, not just another Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon/Escalade.
What I did like about the book was the authors’ passion. Although they spend a fairly healthy amount of time patting themselves on the back for the work they did at car companies, they also cut through the marketing bull and the “conventional wisdom.”
I think they’re right: Instead of deciding that being vanilla is the way to get the most consumers, automakers should find what they can do well, then hit hard on that message. They should either reduce the number of badges they offer, or make those badges actually stand for something that consumers can understand and buy into. We see GM already doing this but Ford is still in the process of “restructuring” and hasn’t figured what it will look like when its done with that process.
What does this mean for actual consumers? A lot. For those who are concerned about “Buying American” (and judging from the response to Cars.com’s American Made Index, that’s quite a few), this book serves as a clarion call for U.S. automakers to get their acts together, lose their timidity and re-establish their products as vital and vibrant.
The loss of any of the Detroit 3 (or 2.5), would mean fewer choices for consumers, which could mean higher prices, could mean fewer jobs for American autoworkers, and could diminish the role of the U.S. in the world economy.
As a final thought, the version of the book I got was a review copy; these guys could use a good editor to clean up their writing (which I’m guessing comes close to how they sound when they talk). They could make their point a lot more convincing with a lot fewer words.
