Now comfortable in his new position as head of General Motors’ United States marketing, Chris Perry is taking clear aim at the luxury market. Perry says GM will use Buick and Cadillac to take on luxury auto makers from Asia and Germany.
Perry envisions Buick taking the role of GM’s “approachable” luxury brand, going head-to-head with Asian brand like Lexus, Acura and Infiniti. Meanwhile, Cadillac will remain GM’s flagship brand, offering more driver-focused vehicles to take on BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
“We’ve been able to define two distinct audiences within the luxury category,” Perry said. Cadillac “probably lines up more toward the Germans, and Buick a little bit more toward the Asian brands.”
In order to reinforce those marketing positions with the general public, Cadillac has recently signed ad agency Fallon Worldwide while Buick has been running new ads from Leo Burnett during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Cadillac’s new ads are intended to appeal to “extroverts” while Buick’s spots target “introverts”.
Perry took over as GM’s marketing head in January. Prior to his promotion Perry spent nine month as the head of Chevrolet’s marketing department where he created the tagline “Chevy runs deep”.
References
1.’GM pits Buick…’ view
