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The Tampa Bay market has a prominent place in General Motors' latest marketing strategy -- a city-by-city, grassroots campaign to improve the company's tattered image.
GM selected five cities to roll out their latest effort to erase the black eye to the GM brand from the government takeover of the failing automaker.
GM officials say Tampa was selected for the new program due to positive trends in employment, housing, and income levels in the area, along with the existence of a strong dealer market.
Charlotte, Nashville and Miami are some examples of cities that GM passed over in favor of Tampa for this latest effort.
The new marketing scheme focuses on an interesting approach: divestment. Executives want to separate the negativity associated with GM's recent troubles from its individual brands — Chevy, Buick, Cadillac and GMC.
The communications manager for GM's southeast region, Araba Dowell, said the plan would function “like a presidential campaign,” with company representatives asking area residents about problems they'd like to see addressed, while focusing on getting the company name out within the community.
Dowell says the plan, which has been in effect for nearly a year, has already shown results. In a recent push to sell more Camaros, GM executives found sales to be particularly effective in the Tampa region.
The company hopes this latest groundwork will help the effectiveness of upcoming product launches, including the hybrid Chevy Volt, which is slated for the third quarter of 2010.
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