Something Rotten in the City of Detroit

This week the American Auto Industry entered a state of crisis.  The once invulnerable barons of Detroit muscle now throw themselves at the mercy of the American legislature pockets drawn empty and begging for alms in a state of realizational shock.  Gone is the lustrous swagger, the unassailable confidence, the Italian suits are buried deep in the recesses of cedar wood closets, the diamond studded cuff-links lie lonely on the Italian marble  counter tops.  Indeed we can now proclaim with all certainty that Detroit is Dead.

Of course the doctors are working feverishly, desperate discourse on rescue packages, capital infusion, possible ripple-effect consequences.  The cynics are abuzz, glowing with über-confidence & “I told you so” rhetoric.  The talking points are all the rage, de-unionization, poor management, chapter 11 necessity.  All the while the question of how slips to the back of the room, reduced to a whisper underneath the wave of partisan bickering.

I personally believe that some of the reasons behind the collapse of Detroit may be readily identified.  I divulge if I may:

Several years ago a movie premiered entitled, The Fast & the Furious.  The movie detailed the lives of California street racers, centering on the hard-nosed, tough-lived, Brandosian car thief who races out of economic necessity and the sympathetic, intelligent, white-bred, undercover police officer.  These two all-American boys face off in a medium that is uniquely American, the drag race.  The movies Japanese characters are portrayed as criminals, spending vast sums on engines and parts, cheating and killing, and as vehemently Un-American as possible.   The movie ends with the lead character’s Detroit muscle car escaping from the undercover police officers souped-up import, the supremacy of the American automobile, and the inescapably good character of the rebel preserved.

Fast forward to the third movie in the Fast & Furious saga, Tokyo Drift.  The series is now in Tokyo where a bumbling, Gumpian, American hillbilly finds himself awash in Tokyo, Japan after one street race too many drives his mother to exile the young man with his aging, post-alcoholic father whose Detroit kit car stands on cement blocks in the garage.  Here the American bravado is seen as a hindrance, the race itself centers on fancy new techniques that the American must learn and master, as he suffers a humiliating defeat.  He is out of place, out-classed, and in the end prevails only when he lets go of his American-cowboy mindset and immerses himself in the Japanese cultural idioms.

This conversion is symptomatic of the American automotive brand.  The “Big 3″ have simply not done enough to curve the downward fall of the American brand, and their efforts in marketing and re branding have been terrible.  Consider the following; American automakers realized that they were losing ground in the 18-37 demographic so they came up with a simpleton strategy, give cars cool names like focus, fusion, and malibu and focus advertising by inclusion of dancing girls, techno music, football players and hip-hop stars.  What they missed was highlighting innovative technical features that spoke directly to that demographic.   The rebel image of James Dean or Steve McQueen was replaced with Lil’ John and one of the Barber brothers (the one that didn’t win the Superbowl).  Detroit continued to market its autos as  “quintessentially American”, the liberty, the patriot, the freedom, “This is our Country”.  In an era of unilateral wars, waterboarding, and cowboy politics is any wonder that these cars didn’t play well in the global market?

American street racers, once in unconquerable symbols of Detroit muscles, dumped Ford and Chevy for smooth Asian imports, and the near plethora of customizable parts and upgrades.  Unfazed and uncaring American automakers turned their heads toward an even smaller market segment in the global racing community, NASCAR.  As the target markets grew smaller and smaller, revenues decreased, and profits began free-falling.  Leading us to ask,  how does Detroit re-brand and save its industry?

First the automakers need to ally with their workers, push for universal health care solutions and controls on prescription drug costs to relieve pressures of labor costs.  Next public relations need to drive some aspects of protectionism push forward with MPG standards, and invent proprietary quality standards.  The focus now needs to shift to Market Penetration and a unified marketing message.  Highlight the innovative nature of American inventiveness after all this is the country of Edison, Ipods, and Polaroid film.  Marketers for the American auto industry need to abandon product placement, and simply bankroll films where ass-kicking American rebels decry import Autos as weak and unreliable science projects.  New ways for consumers to buy and observe Autos without timely trips to the dealer must occur.  Dealers must now be encouraged to come up with new creative ways to host events, infiltrating social networking sites and circles, and boosting the marketing message.  If Detroit is to survive, it will have to learn to flex its marketing muscle again.  This renewed push in marketing must start now, with a renewed attempt to convince Americans that Detroit is worth saving, and not to pull the plug on its life support.