Can Social Media Help Refresh The Buick Brand?

by Jessica Murray on Sep 22, 2010 Follow @jessicarmurray

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Disclaimer: I am currently working as a Buick Brand Ambassador in Chicago on behalf of the brand.

In an effort to reinvent the brand, Buick knows they have a lot of work to do. They want to trade in the old fuddy-duddy grandpa image that has plagued the brand for the last decade for a hipper more modern brand impression.

In August, AdAge reported Buick was the fastest growing car brand in the US, but they are still struggling to rid the brand of their dated image. It is a large effort that General Motors has undertaken to broaden the appeal of Buick. And just as they have been doing with Chevrolet, they are reaching out to social media to help change the public’s awareness of the brand.

Thrillist Events

Buick is reaching out to a younger audience by throwing upscale parties across the country with the help of local lifestyle blog, Thrillist. The Buick Regal Remix events have been held in several cities with the popular band Augustana performing at the events, past cities include San Antonio, Chicago and Dallas. Buick will be hosting events in Miami and Boston in the coming months.

Moment of Truth

If it feels like you’re hearing more and more about Buick recently, it is likely because they are launching their brand new 2011 Buick Regal, a model that has not been sold in the US since 1996. In support of introducing the Regal to a large online audience and encouraging fans to share their thoughts about it, Buick has unveiled a website called Moment of Truth, which hosts first impressions of the new Regal from experts, consumers, GM employees and more. The page content is a combination of live consumer tweets, Flickr pictures and Facebook posts and although the sentiment of posts are heavily positive, there are a handful of neutral or slightly negative posts. Buick is maintaining a high level of transparency here allowing all comments to be seen.

Tweet to Drive

Buick has teamed up with Cohn & Wolfe and are launching “Tweet to Drive” programs in Chicago (@DriveBuickChi) and Austin (@DriveBuickATX). For 3 months locals to each city, with a working knowledge of city events and history, will meet with people who request to test drive a Buick and let them test out the Regal or a LaCrosse. These Brand Ambassadors reply to any Twitter users that message the account and schedule a test drive to a cultural destination of their choice in the city. One test driver is selected each day to win different prizes, including concert tickets and restaurant gift certificates.

The Chicago campaign has had a few dozen test drives, from local influencers ages 25-50. Brand Ambassadors have been receiving very positive first-hand feedback from test drivers.

The “Tweet to Drive” campaign’s aims to show these test drivers the new Buick with a unique and prolonged test drive, allows Buick to learn from their experiences, and build awareness about the evolving Buick brand.

So will it be successful? Can Buick, with the help of social media, help change the brand image over time?

Post Author

Jessica Murray

West Coast born and bred, East Coast educated and now Southern Fried. Jessica is the Co-Founder and Program Director of Social Media Club Nashville and heavily involved in the leadership of Nashville's PodCamp and BarCamp, annual events with more... View Full Profile →

Clbsierra

As a new Buick owner (and a forty-something with young kids) I’m sure they hope to improve their image but after several mentions of my Buick Enclave, as well as recommendations on Twitter with no reaction from Buick, I hope the Regal drivers get a better response.
http://jasonkeath.com jakrose

That sucks doesn’t it? When you really want to applaud a brand online and cannot get them to respond or acknowledge? I have been there many times.

I can’t really defend Buick other than saying they are obviously heading in the right direction at least. I know GM down-scaled their social media staff from half a dozen to one during the huge transition of bankruptcy during the financial crisis – and are now slowly adding more talent to support their social efforts. They started with Chevrolet and are now using what they have learned to support similar efforts with Buick.

That said, any brand who is not on Twitter responding is obviously missing opportunities like this.
http://www.AndrewDavidBaron.com Andrew David Baron

Sorry for the duplicate entry…
http://www.AndrewDavidBaron.com Andrew David Baron

Sorry for the duplicate entry…
http://www.AndrewDavidBaron.com Andrew David Baron

I think GM should have condensed all their brands into the name ‘GM’. In doing so, taking the best performing and selling vehicles from all the brands and produce an incredibly, great car for each body genre.

(ie – Cadillac Escalade would become GM Escalade)
(ie – Buick LaCrosse would become GM LaCrosse)
(ie – Pontiac GTO would become GM GTO)

(SUV, Sedan, Coupe, Sports Car, Hybrid, etc…)

The way GM would have made money is from the upgrade packages for each model as well other special 3rd party add ons. (Think of FireFox add-ons for a Search Browser.)

Sounds radical and it is, but it would reduce waste, increase resale value. When you create better cars…they’ll be worth more later on. Unfortunately, this idea would most likely destroy the Auto Industry as a whole…but that’s for a separate debate, :P

But I’m side stepping the question…

Based upon what has been written and from what I’ve seen from the article’s links I would have to say that GM is going all out to use Social Media by any means possible. Question is: is anyone listening or more importantly will anyone act upon this type of interaction. Hard to say, but I would venture to think that it depends on the audience they are courting (assuming 35-45, the median age of a twitter user).

I wish them luck, but I still say that GM is WAY too big for the economy we find ourselves a part of.
http://www.AndrewDavidBaron.com Andrew David Baron

I think GM should have condensed all their brands into the name ‘GM’. In doing so, taking the best performing and selling vehicles from all the brands and produce an incredibly, great car for each body genre.

(ie – Cadillac Escalade would become GM Escalade)
(ie – Buick LaCrosse would become GM LaCrosse)
(ie – Pontiac GTO would become GM GTO)

(SUV, Sedan, Coupe, Sports Car, Hybrid, etc…)

The way GM would have made money is from the upgrade packages for each model as well other special 3rd party add ons. (Think of FireFox add-ons for a Search Browser.)

Sounds radical and it is, but it would reduce waste, increase resale value. When you create better cars…they’ll be worth more later on. Unfortunately, this idea would most likely destroy the Auto Industry as a whole…but that’s for a separate debate, :P

But I’m side stepping the question…

Based upon what has been written and from what I’ve seen from the article’s links I would have to say that GM is going all out to use Social Media by any means possible. Question is: is anyone listening or more importantly will anyone act upon this type of interaction. Hard to say, but I would venture to think that it depends on the audience they are courting (assuming 35-45, the median age of a twitter user).

I wish them luck, but I still say that GM is WAY too big for the economy we find ourselves a part of.
http://www.buick-lacrosse.com/ buick lacrosse

I think social media like face book is the best media to promote the products and the 2011 Buick sale is on top by the promotions on the social media

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