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People buy brands, they don’t buy companies, and this is never more true than with General Motors, whose brands are legendary and have always been the key to their growth.

This is why over the past year and a half, the marketing doctor predicted GM’s return to profitability. Even in the darkest moments of the auto industry in 2008, it was clear that General Motors was already remembering to focus on its brands.

Bottom line, an analyst who followed the marketing could predict the company’s recovery; the analyst who followed the finances and/or the herd (which in this case was the same thing) could only see the company’s demise.

Stay tuned.

Loser: President Obama

It doesn’t matter how many swims in the Gulf President Obama takes. Unless he starts listening to the people and stops listening to his ideology, his brand will only get weaker.

I’m talking about his 9-11 mosque position.

Of course, a president must stand for the highest ideals of our country. And religious toleration is one of our finest ideals (if only the rest of world did it as well as we do at honoring it).

But the 9-11 mosque uproar isn’t about religious toleration, it’s about defending what’s sacred in America. And it’s about being realistic when it comes to important symbolism.

Fact is, it’s about defending our country plain and simple – and that’s supposed to be a President’s top priority.

Folks, I said it all last week, but let me boil it down. The initiative to put up this particular mosque is not only tone deaf but an aggressive act by a very questionable group. Besides being in the poorest of tastes, there is no way that a victory by the mosque builders won’t be seen as some kind of victory for the jihadists who perpetrated the 2001 attack.

Instead of listening to his people and their attempts to express what they are rightly feeling, President Obama has decided to over-ride them by blindly applying ideals that don’t really apply to the situation. This is offensive and condescending to the American people because it assumes that their outrage is racist and anti-Muslim when it is, in fact, legitimate.

Bottom line, even if the President clarifies his initial position, my guess is that the brand damage has been done. People will remember that his first public reaction was to dismiss theirs.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY:
Great brands listen to their target markets.

John Tantillo is an AMA member and president of the Marketing Department of America, a New York-based marketing firm.
http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/

The opinions expressed in this post are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the American Marketing Association.