How GM Stifled 'Passion and Creativity' in Its Marketing Ranks
Former GM Exec Mike Jackson Blasts Automaker's 'PowerPoint Culture'
DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- The former VP-marketing and advertising at General Motors Corp. believes its culture is "so bureaucratic it stifles all passion and creativity" with bloated processes, woeful inefficiencies and an approach to its agencies that is threatening rather than productive.
In an interview with Advertising Age elaborating on the column, Mr. Jackson, now a partner in digital agency SarkissianMason, New York, said the automaker's U.S. operations have too many layers for approval of ads. Work on major launches begins with the divisional ad manager, and ads for crucial models must move all the way up to top management for approval. It wasn't unusual, he said, for 15 or 20 people to present the work in meetings.
He dubbed GM as a "PowerPoint culture" and a "bureaucracy of meetings culture." During his tenure at the automaker, Mr. Jackson said that "there were no meetings where people just sat down, had a discussion and made a decision."
Mr. Jackson also was critical of GM for putting engineers and finance people with no marketing training in key marketing positions. That means the agency teams often presented their work to executives with less experience and often no experience outside the auto industry, though he added that his former employer has lots of company in this arena across the auto industry.
Moreover, Mr. Jackson said GM doesn't treat its ad agencies like partners but rather as vendors. If an agency doesn't fall in line with the marketer's demands, the client threatens to move the business. The roster creative agencies learn to fall in line and their priority, according to Mr. Jackson, is account retention, not necessarily what's best for their client. The agencies present work they know will get approved, not cool, risky creative, he said. As a result, ho-hum work is perpetuated.
A GM spokeswoman declined to comment.
Mr. Jackson said his comments have nothing to do with sour grapes. He said he's concerned that GM will return to its business-as-usual ways after a new GM emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "I just want GM to get better," he said.
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A good start would be getting rid of the dark suits and red ties and adding a bit of diverse thinking to the mix.
On the other hand, when I graduated from college and first got into the agency business I worked on IBM. Mr. Jackson's comments would have applied equally well to them. But, (no comparison to Mr. Jackson intended at all) there was a core group of advertising people at IBM who were smart and determined to prevent work from being gobbled up by the bureaucracy.
They repeatedly shepherded work through fifteen levels (including the Chairman for tv). What emerged was the Charlie Chaplin campaign. WIth good work year after year. A struggle frequently? No doubt. Worth it. You bet.
Scott Lackey
Jugular Advertising
http://www.jugularnyc.com
The company is so sick and lost it is probably beyond repair. Certainly the LAST thing a bloated bureacratic, out-of-touch company needs is the "fresh perspective" of U.S. government ownership!
It astounds me that after decades they just couldn't look around at the quality of Toyota, the marketing of Honda ... even the strategy of Hyundai for Pete's sakes ... and wake up.
www.stevenstark.net
www.twitter.com/stevenstark
Understanding why you hire someone to do a job is key to quality in any business. An owner of a restaurant doesn't stand over his chef dictating each aspect of the meal, a car dealership owner doesn't stand next to his salesperson and comment on each thing they say to a prospective buyer, and the owner of a taxi service doesn't ride with their drivers and tell them how to get to a destination. So, it baffles me how business owners believe they can dictate each aspect of their advertising creative and think they'll end up with a good ad.
Hire a good agency, create a partnership relationship with a smart liaison/manager to oversee the process, and let the creative people do their job.
Richard Todd Aguayo - http://knpbranding.com
I think the most biting statements here refer to GM putting engineers and finance people in key marketing positions. It's not that these people don't know about advertising or marketing, it's that they don't recognize the implications to the brand of making poor decisions. Just like an art director wouldn't clearly understand the outcomes of setting a poorly conceived operations budget.
For large organizations such as GM, operational and organizational systems are critical. But so are more organic qualities, like adaptability, creativity and yes, even spirit. Aside from its finances, GM should consider a restructuring of its corporate culture. It may very well prevent the next disaster.
Nader Ashway
www.twitter.com/nashway
But over the decades as the company grows the quality average goes down.
Eventually, the company becomes populated with politicians and careerists.
The company continues on for years thanks to its inital momentum but the motor has long since quit running.
It's as inevitable as Bo Derek's wrinkles.
The real marketers are not the generic thinkers hiding in the marketing departments of giant corporations.
No, the real marketers have names like Richard Branson or Bill Gates or Phil Knight.
No wonder Apple's stock price goes down every time Steve Jobs sneezes.
http://www.proudtoliveinamerica.com
Instead of focusing on the core of their corporate existence, "products that customers want" the "C Suite" become enamored with their own selfish agendas, paying lip service to employees while pandering to Wall Street.
PR, Advertising and Marketing folks need to take the mantle of responsible advocacy and lead companies of the path of customer centricity. If we do not do it, who will?
Gerard F. Corbett
http://www.corbett.org