通用汽车（General Motors）首席营销官乔伊•伊万尼克走马上任已有十个月。在与他的交谈中，他多次提到自己的“泳道理论”。

    伊万尼克说的可不是体育锻炼，而是他在完成通用汽车 “复兴大业”中的主要任务。（此前他曾用不同品牌拥有各自的“泳道”来比喻强化品牌识别度，坚持品牌创新——译注。）在这位51岁的通用高管看来，他的首要任务在于确保通用汽车完成多个品牌的清晰定位；特别是考虑到在消费者脑海中，这些品牌相互间既不要重叠也不会冲突——就像在各自的泳道奋勇前进的游泳运动员一样。“现在我们必须采取措施杜绝一切重蹈覆辙的可能，”他说道，“我们可不想再次因为失败而登上《财富》杂志（Fortune）的封面。”

    伊万尼克所说的是1983年8月22日的《财富》杂志封面（如图），这幅图片曾像梦魇一般困扰着几代通用汽车高管。画面上排列着四辆栗色轿车，分属于不同品牌却出自同一个设计制造平台，所以外形看起来如出一辙。这些车在外形上的高度接近性也反应了消费者的困惑：如果连车型本身都让人无法分辨，购车者又怎能区分不同的品牌呢？这张封面照片可以说是通用公司管理失误的一个缩影，同时也是通用背弃前主席阿尔弗雷德•斯隆先生座右铭的一个写照。这位传奇性的高管曾经提出一个口号：“不同的钱包、不同的目标、不同的车型”。

    二十八年之后，通用汽车在重组风波中浴火重生。2009年，通用汽车申请破产，后经美国财政部（the U.S. Treasury）援救，进行了资产重组。多个享有盛誉的品牌如庞蒂亚克(Pontiac)、土星(Saturn)、悍马(Hummer)和萨博(Saab)相继宣布关闭并出售其资产，在美国本土，唯有凯迪拉克(Cadillac)、雪佛兰(Chevrolet)、别克(Buick)和通用汽车公司GMC幸免于难。在这种情况下，通用汽车被迫关闭了十二家工厂，裁掉2万多名员工。最糟糕的是，通用汽车还从全球头号汽车制造商的宝座上跌落，已经滑落到谷底的士气遭受毁灭性的打击。而今，通用汽车已然卷土重来，此刻的通用汽车急需一位富有灵感和激情的营销领袖，最好他还能具备“旁观者”的眼光。

    伊万尼克，这位来自圣费尔南多峡谷的加州人，衣着时髦，曾效力于保时捷（Porsche）、现代（Hyundai）和日产（Nissan），于2010年年中被通用汽车董事长马克•罗伊斯招致麾下，接管美国市场。几个月以后，通用汽车进一步授权，任命伊万尼克为全球首席营销官。【除了负责大众熟知的通用旗下美国品牌之外，他也同时接管了霍顿（Holden）、欧宝（Opel）、沃克斯豪尔（Vauxhall）等国际品牌。】

    迄今为止，伊万尼克的举措可谓相当大胆。他已决定将雪佛兰的广告业务转给旧金山的广告公司古德拜•希尔福斯坦（Goodby, Silverstein & Partners），而雪佛兰销量占通用汽车美国市场总销量的70%。要知道，底特律的坎贝尔•爱华德公司（Campbell Ewald）为雪佛兰操持广告业务已有91年之久，这一变动震撼了整个广告界。（通用汽车全球广告费用估计可达30亿美元。）

    A conversation with Joel Ewanick, General Motors' chief marketing officer for the past ten months, doesn't proceed for long without his mention of "swim lanes."

    Ewanick isn't talking about exercise, but his primary task at a resurgent GM (GM). In the 51-year-old executive's view, his mission is to clearly define the company's varying brands, taking particular care that, in consumers' minds, they do not collide with one another -- like swimmers separated by lane markers. "We have to develop policies and procedures to this never happens again," he says. "We want to prevent a repeat of the Fortune cover."

    Ewanick is referring to the August 22, 1983 cover of Fortune magazine (above, right) which has haunted generations of GM executives. It featured four maroon sedans, each from a different GM brand but built on the same engineering platform. All looked identical. The cars' similarities spoke to consumers' confusion: how could potential buyers differentiate brands if they couldn't tell individual models apart? The cover epitomized the company's mismanagement and the extent to which legendary GM chairman Alfred Sloan's maxim -- a car for every purse and purpose -- had been forgotten.

    Twenty-eight years later, GM is emerging from another agonizing reorganization. The automaker went bankrupt in 2009 and was rescued and recapitalized by the U.S. Treasury. Storied brands Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab were shuttered or sold, leaving only Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC alive in the U.S. GM was forced to close a dozen facilities and cut more than 20,000 jobs. Perhaps worst of all, GM found itself knocked from its perch as No. 1 automaker worldwide, a devastating blow to already plummeting moral. Now that GM has managed to claw its way back to the top spot, it desperately needs an inspirational marketing leader with an outsider's perspective.

    Enter Ewanick. The hiply-dressed Californian from the San Fernando Valley worked for Porsche, Hyundai and, briefly, Nissan (NSANY) before being recruited by GM President Mark Reuss in mid-2010 to run U.S. marketing. A few months later, GM expanded his portfolio, making him its global chief marketing officer. (In addition to familiar American brands, he is also responsible for the international Holden, Opel and Vauxhall marks.)

    So far, he hasn't eschewed bold moves. He decided to move advertising responsibility for Chevy, which accounts for some 70% of GM's U.S. sales, to the San Francisco-based agency of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Because Detroit-based Campbell Ewald had supervised the account for 91 years, the moved rocked the advertising world. (GM's global ad expenditure is estimated at a massive $3 billion.)

    坎贝尔•爱华德公司曾经策划了汽车广告历史上具有里程碑意义的几个广告方案。“开着雪佛兰看美国”（"See the USA in a Chevrolet"），“棒球，热狗，苹果派和雪佛兰”（"Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet"），“美国的脉搏”（"Heartbeat of America"），“坚如磐石”（"Like a Rock"）等广告语都堪称经典。然而，2010年5月，伊万尼克上任后的第一把火便是为通用汽车最大的品牌注入新的活力，于是他选择了自己熟知的古德拜•希尔福斯坦公司。伊万尼克负责现代汽车公司营销与广告业务期间，古德拜公司便是现代公司的广告代理，他与古德拜公司合伙人杰夫•古德拜保持长期的合作关系。这家公司因其牛奶广告策划案“今天你喝奶了吗”（"Got Milk?"）而名声大噪。

    但伊万尼克还没有完全满足。最近他还批评古德拜公司的作品“时好时坏”，要求其改进工作方法。他说道：“可以说我们已经度过难关。”他特别表示，自己对雪佛兰克鲁兹（Chevy Cruze）全新的电视广告非常满意。广告讲述了一个年轻人的初次约会：约会告别时，他在女孩的唇间留下轻柔的一吻，然后转身进入雪佛兰克鲁兹座驾中，按下OnStar按键（语音通信系统）。车上语音系统自动读出了心仪的女孩在Facebook上更新的留言：“有生以来最甜蜜的初次约会…”。通用汽车的这位新任首席营销官对这则“最甜蜜约会”的广告极其钟爱，认为它令人愉悦，情感真挚，并且传达出产品的特定属性，即可以通过OnStar语音通信系统为司机和乘客读出Facebook上的最新状态。

    伊万尼克因其一丝不苟的执行力和跳跃性思维而名声卓著。在经济衰退期间，他协助策划了“现代汽车失业回购保障计划”（Hyundai Assurance Program），该计划保证，若消费者在购买新车后遭遇失业，公司将购回新购的车辆。虽然当时消费者信心低迷，但这一计划却使得现代汽车的关注度飙升，市场份额逆市增长。

    而在通用汽车，伊万尼克与团队共同制定了雪佛兰和其他品牌的“品牌手册”，为广告商阐明了品牌的特质与属性。举例说，伊万尼克将雪佛兰的目标客户群描述为“平凡的英雄”，这个概念在全球市场上略经调整后就可以推而广之。而别克和凯迪拉克都属于豪华品牌，但结构设计和顾客群体上都存在差异。凯迪拉克线条更鲜明，更容易吸引个性张扬的顾客，而别克相对来说则比较温和圆润。伊万尼克称之为“侧翼战略”，用以区分购买豪华型轿车的顾客群。

    从1983年登上《财富》封面至今，通用汽车在美国的市场份额跌幅超过50%，目前仅在20%左右徘徊。车形外观相似的问题早已解决——但如今的市场风起云涌，新品牌和新制造商层出不穷，各种车型、风格与价格选择，令消费者眼花缭乱。伊万尼克必须小心谨慎，避免连军事战略家也常犯的经典错误：好高骛远，马失前蹄。

    翻译：富来细特\刘进龙

    Campbell Ewald had created arguably some of the most memorable campaigns in automotive advertising history. Classic taglines included "See the USA in a Chevrolet," "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet," "Heartbeat of America" and "Like a Rock." However, when Ewanick took over in May of 2010, the first order of business was to instill new life into GM's largest brand. He turned to familiar territory -- Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Goodby was Hyundai's ad agency when Ewanick led its marketing and advertising, and Ewanick has a longtime relationship with agency partner Jeff Goodby. Goodby is known for "Got Milk?," among other campaigns.

    Ewanick wasn't immediately satisfied though, recently criticizing Goodby's work as "inconsistent" and ordering up tweaks to its approach. "I can say that we turned the corner," Ewanick says, pronouncing himself especially pleased with such new Chevy Cruze TV spots as one highlighting a young man's first date: After giving the young woman a chaste peck one the lips, he gets in his Chevrolet Cruze and pushes the OnStar button. A voice reading his date's Facebook post says "Best. First. Date. Ever." GM's new chief marketing officer likes the "Best Date" ad because he says it's entertaining, emotional and communicates a specific product attribute, namely the ability of OnStar to audibly recite a Facebook status update to drivers and passengers.

    Ewanick built his reputation on meticulous execution and unconventional thinking. In the depths of the last recession, he helped to devise the Hyundai Assurance Program, which promised that new-car customers would be protected by insurance in the event they lost their jobs after buying a new Hyundai. It succeeded in raising Hyundai's profile and market share at a moment when consumer confidence was low.

    At GM, Ewanick and team have created "brand books" for Chevrolet and the others, describing for advertisers the qualities and attributes represented by the brand. Chevrolet, for example, is meant to appeal to what Ewanick describes as everyday heroes, a notion that can be adjusted in the respective worldwide markets where Chevrolet is sold. Buick and Cadillac both are luxury brands, though differentiated by physical design as well as type of customer. Cadillac has sharper lines, appealing to an "edgier" personality than softer and smoother Buick. Ewanick calls it a "flanking" strategy that differentiates luxury buyers.

    Since the 1983 Fortune cover GM's US market share has fallen by more than 50%, now hovering around 20%. Similarity of look has been cured -- but now the market is flooded with more brands and nameplates than ever, giving consumers unprecedented choice in size, style and price category. Ewanick must take care to avoid the classic mistake of many military strategists, fighting the last war instead of the current one.