By Jim McCarthy Apr 24, 2009 4 comments

…Annnnd It’s Gone.

I joke a little, but it’s actually quite sad that it appears the Pontiac brand will soon be a thing of the past.  Not sad because Pontiac deserves to survive, but because of how far it fell.  Here’s the key tidbit:

“Rumors of Pontiac’s demise have been prevalent for weeks, but a vague, solemn comment from a GM PR chief led the publication to conclude that
‘Pontiac is dead.’”

I mention it because of the lesson for all marketers of everything, everywhere:

Be relevant, have a specific, focused meaning, or be gone.

In fact, we wrote about this just a couple months ago at this post.  We were more prophetic than we knew, sorta.

I’m reproducing that post here in part.  I want to say how important it is in our business (live entertainment) to understand how this applies.  It’s a true survival issue, and I hope everyone is thinking carefully about this:

You know what a Porsche is (true sportscar) ; you know what a Cadillac is (American luxury); you know what a Toyota is (quality); you even know what a Hummer is (an off-road monstrosity).

But you have no idea what a Pontiac is.

Some of you guys (mostly guys) know what a Pontiac USED to be:  a muscle car.  Even now, the 1967 GTO sets male hearts a-flutter.

How did Pontiac go from something that gorgeous and appealing to something like this?

Because it wasn’t satisfied with its niche, so rather than grow the niche patiently, aggressively over the years, it tried to be more, do more and please a wider and wider group of people.  (By the way, Pontiac’s current slogan “Pontiac is CAR” is certainly baffling, but it also makes a kind of sense:  all we know about a Pontiac is that it is a car.  Thanks, fellas.)

Now how does this apply to your live entertainment organization?

Well, what do you “mean”?  Cirque Du Soleil means spectacular modern circus.  Johnny Steele means smart political comedy.  Second City means the best improv comedy.  Charles Phoenix means hilarious slideshows lovingly showing Americana.

In other words, you don’t have to be big to mean something, but meaning something sure makes it easier to get big!

And if you’re big and no longer mean something, you might find it’s a quicker trip to being small again than you ever thought possible.

Just ask Pontiac.

UPDATE: remember that although it’s easy to mock Pontiac now, but staying true to your meaning is a never-ending thing.  After all, this is a company that once built this:

1964 Pontiac GTO-A Thing of Beauty

1964 Pontiac GTO-A Masterpiece, but Long, Long Ago

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4 Comments

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