GM uses "Hot Button" to drive sales
01-04-2004, 05:10 PM
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GM uses "Hot Button" to drive sales
Sunday, January 4, 2004
GM hopes giveaway will hook shoppers
No. 1 automaker to give 1,000 cars, trucks in 'Hot Button' drive to build dealer traffic
By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News
TROY — Aggressive incentives failed to boost General Motors Corp.’s U.S. market share in 2003, so now the automaker is going all the way to draw showroom traffic by giving away vehicles in what GM calls the biggest automotive promotion in history.
Under the $50 million campaign — called “Hot Button” — GM will hand out 1,000 vehicles between Monday and the end of February.
To win a new car or truck, consumers must come to a participating GM dealership, sit in the designated “hot button” vehicle and push the blue OnStar button. An operator at one of four call centers will ask for some information, then announce whether the person is a winner.
The automaker’s entire 54 model product line and nine divisions — including high-end products such as the Hummer H2, Chevrolet Corvette and SSR and Cadillac XLR — will be included.
“The purpose of advertising is to make the phones ring and the doors swing,” Flint-area Buick dealer Jim Dollinger said. “This will make the doors swing.”
GM said it probably lost market share in 2003 despite heavy incentives. The automaker’s slice of the U.S. car and light truck market stood at 27.8 percent at the end of Nov. 2003, down from 28.1 percent in 2002.
GM’s December and final year-end sales results will be reported Monday.
“The primary objective is to close the gap between consumers’ perception of GM and what GM really is today,” said Steve Hill, GM’s director of retail planning.
Hill estimated the program would generate a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in dealer showroom traffic by requiring consumers to stop in for a chance at winning a vehicle.
Within three days or so, winning players will get a notice revealing which vehicle they’ve won. The vehicle in which the person pushed the button isn’t necessarily the prize.
The ad campaign — featuring former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason — hits the airwaves today during the National Football League playoff game.
GM expects about 5.5 million people to play — with the odds of winning one in 5,500. In comparison, the chances of winning the big prize in the Michigan lottery is one in 14 million, Hill said.
Art Spinella, an analyst with CNW Marketing in Bandon, Ore., said the “Hot Button” program is a high-tech version of the giveaway contests run for years by dealers where a person has to find the key that opens the car’s door.
It may be a twist on an old sales ploy, but it will probably be effective, he said.
“Those kinds of programs work,” Spinella said. “They do generate floor traffic.”
Spinella said GM’s ability to turn sales from floor traffic, called the closing rate, has improved over the last five years to about 32 percent from about 21 percent.
In comparison, Toyota Motor Co.’s closing rate is 43 percent and Honda Motor Co. dealers convert browsers into paying customers about 58 percent of the time, he said.
“If they can close a third of the people that come in for the contest, that would be pretty good,” Spinella said.
Dollinger, the Flint-area dealers, said he’s pleased with the new campaign, especially it’s simplicity.
“It’s the kind of thing GM needs to be doing,” Dollinger said, “and get out of all these crossword puzzle incentives where all you can do is make a mistake.”
The “Hot Button” campaign will also be integrated into the promotion for GM’s 24-hour Road Test program, which allows prospective customers to take home many GM vehicles for an overnight test drive.
The test drive program, which was supposed to end Friday, has been extended through at least the middle of March.
Six million pieces of direct mail will be sent to non-GM or so-called “conquest” customers that will include pitches for the test drive and Hot Button programs, according to Garry Neel, CEO of McCann-Erickson’s Detroit office, which created the Hot Button spots.
GM intends to remain aggressive on the incentive front, Hill said. In November, GM was offering an average discount of $4,000 per model, according to Autodata, far above the average industry discount of $2,685.
Aside from building showroom traffic, the Hot Button program is aimed at promoting GM’s OnStar service and helping consumers make a better connection between GM and some of its brands.
Many consumers still do not recognize that such well-regarded brands as Saturn, Hummer and Saab are part of the GM family, Hill said.
“It’s important for GM to start getting associated with those brands rather than the other way around,” Spinella said.
“Cadillac has become a halo brand for GM and it’s helped other GM brands.”
You can reach Ed Garsten at (313) 223-3217 or egarsten@detnews.com.
GM hopes giveaway will hook shoppers
No. 1 automaker to give 1,000 cars, trucks in 'Hot Button' drive to build dealer traffic
By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News
TROY — Aggressive incentives failed to boost General Motors Corp.’s U.S. market share in 2003, so now the automaker is going all the way to draw showroom traffic by giving away vehicles in what GM calls the biggest automotive promotion in history.
Under the $50 million campaign — called “Hot Button” — GM will hand out 1,000 vehicles between Monday and the end of February.
To win a new car or truck, consumers must come to a participating GM dealership, sit in the designated “hot button” vehicle and push the blue OnStar button. An operator at one of four call centers will ask for some information, then announce whether the person is a winner.
The automaker’s entire 54 model product line and nine divisions — including high-end products such as the Hummer H2, Chevrolet Corvette and SSR and Cadillac XLR — will be included.
“The purpose of advertising is to make the phones ring and the doors swing,” Flint-area Buick dealer Jim Dollinger said. “This will make the doors swing.”
GM said it probably lost market share in 2003 despite heavy incentives. The automaker’s slice of the U.S. car and light truck market stood at 27.8 percent at the end of Nov. 2003, down from 28.1 percent in 2002.
GM’s December and final year-end sales results will be reported Monday.
“The primary objective is to close the gap between consumers’ perception of GM and what GM really is today,” said Steve Hill, GM’s director of retail planning.
Hill estimated the program would generate a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in dealer showroom traffic by requiring consumers to stop in for a chance at winning a vehicle.
Within three days or so, winning players will get a notice revealing which vehicle they’ve won. The vehicle in which the person pushed the button isn’t necessarily the prize.
The ad campaign — featuring former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason — hits the airwaves today during the National Football League playoff game.
GM expects about 5.5 million people to play — with the odds of winning one in 5,500. In comparison, the chances of winning the big prize in the Michigan lottery is one in 14 million, Hill said.
Art Spinella, an analyst with CNW Marketing in Bandon, Ore., said the “Hot Button” program is a high-tech version of the giveaway contests run for years by dealers where a person has to find the key that opens the car’s door.
It may be a twist on an old sales ploy, but it will probably be effective, he said.
“Those kinds of programs work,” Spinella said. “They do generate floor traffic.”
Spinella said GM’s ability to turn sales from floor traffic, called the closing rate, has improved over the last five years to about 32 percent from about 21 percent.
In comparison, Toyota Motor Co.’s closing rate is 43 percent and Honda Motor Co. dealers convert browsers into paying customers about 58 percent of the time, he said.
“If they can close a third of the people that come in for the contest, that would be pretty good,” Spinella said.
Dollinger, the Flint-area dealers, said he’s pleased with the new campaign, especially it’s simplicity.
“It’s the kind of thing GM needs to be doing,” Dollinger said, “and get out of all these crossword puzzle incentives where all you can do is make a mistake.”
The “Hot Button” campaign will also be integrated into the promotion for GM’s 24-hour Road Test program, which allows prospective customers to take home many GM vehicles for an overnight test drive.
The test drive program, which was supposed to end Friday, has been extended through at least the middle of March.
Six million pieces of direct mail will be sent to non-GM or so-called “conquest” customers that will include pitches for the test drive and Hot Button programs, according to Garry Neel, CEO of McCann-Erickson’s Detroit office, which created the Hot Button spots.
GM intends to remain aggressive on the incentive front, Hill said. In November, GM was offering an average discount of $4,000 per model, according to Autodata, far above the average industry discount of $2,685.
Aside from building showroom traffic, the Hot Button program is aimed at promoting GM’s OnStar service and helping consumers make a better connection between GM and some of its brands.
Many consumers still do not recognize that such well-regarded brands as Saturn, Hummer and Saab are part of the GM family, Hill said.
“It’s important for GM to start getting associated with those brands rather than the other way around,” Spinella said.
“Cadillac has become a halo brand for GM and it’s helped other GM brands.”
You can reach Ed Garsten at (313) 223-3217 or egarsten@detnews.com.
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