Changing a company’s brand image is like training a deep-cover secret agent to become their alias, except permanently.
In late February, Holden began its “This is how we SUV” media campaign, as it looks to focus on its SUV and ute range which now offers Trax, Equinox and Arcadia, and 4×4 Trailblazer and Colorado in both single and dual-cab 4×4.
Holden says in 2019 it wants to broaden the brand’s positioning to take a greater share in SUV/ute sales, and to do that, the company says it needs to deepen its connection with customers, citing Holden Financial Services and customer service.
In what seems like a corporate refresh with new managing director Dave Buttner at the helm, Holden says it will “leverage its relationship with GM and work seamlessly between HQ and the dealer network, focused on taking co-ordinated action to win more customers”.
CQ University marketing lecturer Dr Saalem Sadeque says now importer-only Holden shares a historical similarity to Coca-Cola.
Few companies have experienced PR disaster like Coca-Cola when it changed the world’s favourite soft drink with one of the most recognised labels in human history.
On April 23, 1985, “New Coke” was born into exile, after the company changed the almost century-old formula – it was like Colonel Sanders tried to sell on 10 secret herbs and spices, or Rolls-Royce pitching the mainstream car buyer.
Sadeque says the challenge for Holden is converting its traditional brand identity into longer-term success, and that individuals commonly buy specific brands because of the extension they offer to one’s self-concept.
“When Coca-Cola decided to stop production of the original Coke, the public reaction was hugely negative and the company was forced to bring it back as the Classic Coke,” he says.
“The lesson here is that brand was the key and whether the product was as good as Pepsi or not, did not matter.
“It was the pain of parting with a brand that formed part of one’s self-identity which was key,” Sadeque adds.
When New Coke was released, publisher Jess Meyer in the US said at the time in Reader’s Digest: “This has got to be the boldest consumer products move of any kind of any stripe since Eve started to hand out apples”.
Sadeque asks if the Holden brand, now offering a front-drive, V8-less Commodore built in Europe, could be suffering from this same issue.
He suggests the fact Holden once stood for “the essence of being Australian in the same way that some people identify themselves as an ‘Apple person’.”
He believes the end of local manufacturing of Holdens in October 2017 was emotionally and spiritually destructive to people’s sense of self.
“It’s akin to losing something which defined Australia, and Australian Holden car owners’ lost sense of identity,” Sadeque says.
“Research shows that users of brands who invest resources, such as time, effort or money, to obtain and consume the brand showed more commitment to the brand.”
Sadeque says in many ways, Holden didn’t return the love to its loyal customers – the other half of the relationship which worked hard to keep going.
“Over many decades, Holden owners have shown great commitment toward the brand and in the process have invested tangible and intangible resources to maintain the relationship.
“However, a relationship can only exist when it is two-way.
While Holden owners have shown great commitment toward one of ‘Australia’s own’, has Holden shown the same amount of commitment?” he asks.
“It appears that in the case of Holden, the closure of local manufacturing after years of government support via taxpayer money has resulted in loss of commitment among Holden buyers.”
Sadeque feels the brand’s decline, which according to VFACTS sales data reported a 2018 sales slump of 32% over 2017 and a December hammering of 60% compared to December 2017, is reversible but needs to be managed very well.
“Brand repositioning in order to revitalise a declining brand is a long-term project and requires patience,” he says.
Sadeque advises Holden needs to start with a brand audit, investigating the current health of the badge in terms of customers and competitors, and says the key is to not presume it already does.
“Don’t assume what the customers wants, discover or find out what the customers want,” he puts simply.
“Holden’s newer models are priced less than their competitors with good features which ticks the value-for-money box towards the brand revitalisation process.
“However, it presently lacks brand differentiation.
Simply put, if it follows what other car brands are currently doing, it will not be successful.”
Buttner says he’s already embarked on the brand self-assessment.
“In my first weeks in the job, I travelled across Australia and New Zealand meeting with dealers and customers to talk about Holden,” he says.
“These discussions were a hugely important foundation as our Holden and GM leaders and our dealers worked together to determine our priorities for 2019.”
In Sadeque’s experience, brand literature provides “limited directions” for revitalising a declining brand but advises that a brand can generally be revitalised by being different.
In the case of a carmaker, offering better value or differentiate the brand itself.
“Holden should reposition the brand to highlight the differentiating features which the customers value and then educate the market through consistent marketing communication at each touch point,” he says.
He says Holden’s present marketing communication efforts “do not provide any compelling argument to the potential buyers.”
Sadeque says despite being a declining brand, Holden does possess high brand recognition among car buyers because the brand has been used by generations of Australians.
“One of the strategies to revitalise a declining brand is the use of nostalgia,” he suggests.
“Holden’s marketing communication should focus on evoking nostalgic sentiments of using Holden cars; memories of driving and riding a Holden through the outback.
“Focus on Holden ownership as an inter-generational transfer, where car buyers purchase Holden cars because the brand was used by their loved ones,” Sadeque explains.
One could argue Holden has already tried such campaigns, although not with its current marketing director Kristian Aquilina.
“While Holden has a 70-year history in the market, we are a challenger brand in SUVs.
We have great products, many of which are entirely new nameplates for our market,” he says in a statement.
“Holden is embracing the challenger mindset: Offering great vehicles, sharp pricing and award-winning customer service to steal share from SUV segment leaders,” Aquilina puts frankly.
Sadeque says one tactic Holden has as an advantage is inter-generational transfer, whereby it can collect fond memories of driving or riding Holden and use it as part of their marketing communication.
He says Holden needs to stop focusing on how good the features of its cars are, “Which is what Holden is currently doing by using engineers to appear in their advertisements .
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[because] all cars nowadays have similarly good features.”
The marketing expert says another contentious Holden strategy which has alienated prospective buyers is the use of the Commodore badge.
“By putting an Australian brand name on the imported cars, Holden has tried to use the nostalgia strategy.
But the strategy has back-fired,” Sadeque says bluntly.
“Commodore has been synonymous with Australian car owners as part of national identity – current use of the Commodore brand name reminds buyers that this brand is .
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not manufactured in Australia.
“This has created a negative brand image for the Commodore brand name in potential Holden buyers’ minds.
“Consider using different brand names to promote the newer brands and not try so desperately to hold on to the Australian brand names,” he suggests.
Effectively, Sadeque says Holden needs to use a nostalgia strategy to evoke the experience of driving and riding Holden, but not using nostalgic names.
In the same way actors draw on their personal, emotional and nostalgic experiences, the company should start drawing on sentiments of owning one but with a new role, a new outlook and the promise of a different tomorrow, perhaps we will see Holden forge a new identity among Australian car buyers.
Whatever you do Holden, change the message, not the recipe.
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