General Motors has done some positive things over the last few years to push the company in the right direction, but every once and a while we get flashes of the old GM. If a return to badge engineering wasn’t frustrating enough, GM has decided to ban all employees from referring to the company’s Chevrolet division as â€Chevy’.
According to an internal memo discovered by The New York Times, GM has banned all employees from using the term Chevy. The memo was signed by Chevrolet sales and service vice president Alan Batey and Chevy marketing head Jim Campbell.
“We’d ask that, whether you’re talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward,” the memo read.
“When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple, for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding … Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer.” Apparently, Chevrolet’s VPs are unaware that Coke is actually short for Coca-Cola.
Update:
Following an uproar of criticism by the public upon hearing of the suggesting of banning the use of ‘Chevy internally, Batey has now decided to set the record straight with a short – yet shaky – YouTube video.
(More after video)
GM has since released a second memo on the subject, explaining: “In no way are we discouraging customers or fans from using the name. We deeply appreciate the emotional connections that millions of people have for Chevrolet and its products. In global markets, we are establishing a significant presence for Chevrolet, and need to move toward a consistent brand name for advertising and marketing purposes. The memo in question was one step in that process.”
However, GM has a long way to go to clean up the term Chevy from company vernacular as the term appears more than 1,700 times on the company’s Web site.
