Uh-oh, you mean they're tuning out our commercials?

Don't for a moment think that inside-out marketing (read: marketing and advertising that suck) is the exclusive domain of high technology. In fact, things are changing for the better in technoland, but that's a subject for another day. The inside-out syndrome is widespread in the consumer product universe where you'd think that, since a lot CEOs come up through the marketing and sales ranks, some customer orientation would hold sway. But, no. Car guys are some of the blindest members of the see-the-world-thru-the-lens-of-the-product club. Liz Vanzura (Fueled-up ads), global marketing czarina who's shaking things up big-time at Cadillac, could write a book about it. And probably will someday and even I would buy it. Vanzura, as documented in the March 20 issue of Biz Week, yanked half of the Cadillac business from Leo Burnett and promises to do for Caddy what she did for VW and more recently, Hummer (think the "Happy Jack" soundtrack on those soapbox derby spots). Problem is, legions of suits at GM remain clueless in the TiVO era. Hell, they're in denial about the mute button on remotes. Seeing the world through the lens of their product, they ignore the simple reality that people don't pay attention to ads, they pay attention to what interests and entertains them -- something that smart marketers have always known and exploited. But it's something that will always require outside-in vision -- being able to see things through the eyes of the people you're trying to reach. This year's Super Bowl ad for Cadillac, reportedly the straw that broke Burnett's back, exemplified the kind of inside-out advertising created primarily to be signed off and approved by the suits, as opposed to compel and sell. The running joke in high-technology told the story of the ad manager who, when asked to explain an ad campaign's objective, replied: "Signature approval!" Recall the VW ads and the Hummer commercials during Vanzura's tenure: the tone, style and storytelling screamed who they wanted to reach and the brand they wanted to build. Oh, yeah, and they actually sold a lot a cars. Something the suits have been trying, and failing, to accomplish at GM.