Chrysler exec: Time to sell product more than the deal
 | George Murphy: Chrysler's deal message obscured its product message last year -- but no more. |
"Chrysler went too far selling the deal and not the product," said George Murphy, senior vice president for global brand marketing for the Chrysler group. "We want more product message and less deal message."
While local dealer ads were touting "deal of the month and tent sales," the product message got lost somewhat, he said.
Now Chrysler needs to get back to basics in delivering its message and building its brands, Murphy said in an interview at the Detroit auto show.
"Dealers sell cars, and we drive traffic," he said.
Chrysler executives were meeting with dealer council representatives in Detroit last week to discuss sales and marketing strategy.
Chrysler group CEO Tom LaSorda has taken control of sales and marketing functions since the Dec. 5 resignation of embattled global sales and marketing chief Joe Eberhardt. Many dealers blamed Eberhardt for trying to cram vehicles down their throats.
Dealers have complained to Chrysler about some of the company's ads. Among them is a Dodge Nitro spot that shows a Nitro owner helping another motorist jump-start his car.
When the Nitro driver guns his engine, the other car soars into the sky and returns to the ground with a resounding thud seconds later.
Murphy defended the ad, saying that it drove traffic to Dodge's Web site and that lots of people sent it to their friends via the youtube.com video Web site.
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