If Richard Branson Ran GM
News is coming out about the auto executives taking their private jets to washington to ask for 25 billion dollars from the federal government. Not a good move.
Now imagine if Richard Branson were in the same situation.
Instead of taking the private jet from Detroit to Washington, he’d take an all-electric or hybrid Cadillac Escalade and get it pimped out with a sound system and some 25″ rims, then carpool with the CEOs from Chrysler and Ford. It would become a pseudo-political campaign, making stops in cities and towns with parties every night.
He’d probably go to an Ohio State tailgate with a new line of electric cars (including the Volt). There would be a video blog put up throughout the days leading to the testimony before Congress. He’d have a sweepstakes for someone to win the Escalade they drove in.
And it would all culminate with him coming in front of Congress and showing that there is strong demand for his product and the bridge loan could be sweetened with incentives, like locking in presales for DoD vehicles or a direct investment in clean tech.
But Richard Branson (or someone like him) doesn’t run GM.
And so they take their planes.
My name is Steve Place. I live on the space coast of Florida.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
This properly tickled my fancy. A very sharp and intelligent point
They really dont have a clue do they…
November 20th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
wow… I’m ready to write a check to GM just based on that. Richard Branson should just buy GM.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Brilliant!
November 20th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
fantastic!
November 20th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
If Richard Branson ran GM, Tesla would have no chance. He would cut whole bunch of entitlement fat, bust up company into competing units, fire all old-school advertising agencies, go to users for real ideas of what they want.
But Richard is smart… he knows GM is about to flat-line.
RIP - GM. We may loose the Corvette, but the rest of the product…. good riddance!
November 20th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Love the post, with one exception: If Richard Branson ran GM, they never would have made enormous SUV hybrids!
The Tahoe Hybrid is the symbol of everything that’s wrong with GM.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:51 am
Your post proves the value of thinking very creatively around marketing. Even the most mundane activities can be turned into potential opportunities. It sounds crazy, but why not turn your daily startup activities into entertainment of some sort? For example, why not get some film students to make a documentary about your journey to startup success?
That’s just one idea, but you get my point. Be unreasonably creative in how you create buzz around whatever you do.
That’s the kind of creative energy that’s missing at GM. It’s unfortunate, because they have world-class infrastructure and valuable operations knowledge.
Too bad these stuffy old crusts have no Klue.
Dan H.
easiology.com
November 21st, 2008 at 5:43 am
fantastic ! are you running a company btw?
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
That’s the most opportunistic outlook I have heard for GM in a long time.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Great post. Branson would have also shown up before Congress not wearing a suit worth thousands of dollars.
Mark
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
[...] jet planes by the execs at $F and $GM, they decided to take my advice from my previous blog post: If Richard Branson Ran GM. News is coming out that they’re taking the road trip I suggested: GM Chairman and CEO Rick [...]