After an iffy few months, General Motors executives are displaying a bit more pep in their step these days. That's what can happen after GM reported U.S. August sales that were 10 percent ahead of a year ago.

On a relative basis, GM's gain was the lowest year-to-year of any of the major OEMs in the U.S. market. But on a call with auto reporters on Wednesday, GM sales executives were able to boast about satisfying results from Chevrolet's sponsorship of the Summer Olympics telecasts on NBC, some timely brand-building under its Chevy Confidence program to clear out 2012 models, and even the relatively new position of being able to hold firm on small-car prices while competitors have to dig deeper into their bag of incentive tricks.

To be sure, GM's August sales tally pales in comparision to Toyota, which posted a 46-percent gain over a year ago, and Honda, with a 58 percent bump. But the size of those advances in large part was attributable to the Japanese companies' dismal 2011 results as they tried to recover output from the earthquake and tsunami in spring of last year. And even as the Japanese brands and other competitors have been trying to claw for market share this summer, GM has been able to maintain "price discipline" in small cars thanks to strong sales of its own models.Continue reading...

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GM CMO Ewanick's flame-out, re-parsed.

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General Motors is scrutinized daily by thousands of automotive and business journalists as well as investors and U.S.-government policymakers and a whole host of other people, and yet there remains a mystery about exactly why GM CMO Joel Ewanick became persona non grata so abruptly on July 29th. The latest disclosures, via Bloomberg News, paint a picture of a relationship betweeen Ewanick and his CEO that unraveled in part over lack of decorum.Continue reading...

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From his first public remarks since taking over as interim CMO of General Motors, it's clear that Alan Batey isn't planning any abrupt changes in policies, directions or programs as he steers the company's marketing efforts at least for the short term. Only recently promoted from Chevrolet sales vice president to vice president of U.S. sales and service, Batey was just tapped again — this time to succeed Joel Ewanick, the controversial global CMO who unexpectedly parted ways with GM on Sunday.

"There is no change," Batey told reporters and analysts during the company's July sales call. "We've always been one thing here, and we have no change in direction or priorities. Our focus is on executing. There is a lot going on right now; a lot of new products. We'll have no disruption and no change. It's all about execution."

From Batey's remarks, it's easy to infer that the main problem his bosses had with Ewanick was with Ewanick, not necessarily with his work. And GM did say that his dismissal had to do with execution of Chevy's sponsorship agreement with the Manchester United soccer franchise, not with the fact of his having struck a deal with Manchester. Sure enough, Batey's first duty in his new role on Monday was to announce the signing of the Man U deal after terms were altered.

But more (likely) is going on than it appears.Continue reading...

Suddenly, Joel Ewanick is done knocking over all of the furniture in General Motors' marketing world — because he's gone. The company's strong-headed global CMO proved to be only a shooting star after GM ousted Ewanick (technically, he resigned, as GM tersely stated) over the weekend following a drama-filled two-year stint.

GM surprised Detroit, Madison Avenue and Wall Street by announcing on Sunday that Ewanick had "failed to meet expectations the company has for its employees" and elected to resign. Outlets including Ad Age and the Wall Street Journal reported that the trigger for Ewanick's sacking was that he failed to properly vet the financial details of Chevy's five-year deal with the iconic Manchester United soccer franchise, which was announced six weeks ago in a high-profile partnership that encompassed China, an international commitment to football and, somehow, Sting.

Today, Man United and Chevy detailed the jersey branding part of the deal, with GM's North American VP Alan Batey quoted instead of Ewanick. Ewanick has shed little additional light on what led to his abrupt exit, although he did tweet that it "has been a privilege & honor to work with the GM Team," and then tweeted the link to the Wall Street Journal report on his exit.Continue reading...

GM abruptly ousts CMO Joel Ewanick over details of Manchester United sponsorship deal and future of GM's new Commonwealth agency relationship is questioned, while automaker also found to be making risky sub-prime loans.

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At the Cannes Lions "festival of creativity" (advertising, and marketing) in France this week, Facebook and Twitter are jousting for the spotlight. With festival attendance at an all-time high, up from 9,000 delegates in 2011 to almost 11,000 this year, the exposure to marketers and creatives makes it well worth elbowing the rosé-imbibing crowds on the Croisette.

Twitter, which has been promoting the #CannesLions hashtag on a special page, hoisted its newly spiffed up blue bird logo at the entrance to the Palais de Festivals welcoming attendees and none too subtly reminding them to keep tweeting. 

Cofounder Jack Dorsey, at Cannes for the first time, tweeted the photo at top. He will receive the Cannes Lions “media person of the year” award (previously bestowed on Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Eric Schmidt and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer), while Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is set to give the keynote on Wednesday.Continue reading...