Much Ado About Chrysler - George Murphey interview examines Chrysler Group marketing strategies and plans - Company Profile - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek, April 9, 2001 by Karl Greenberg

Recently some of our Dodge advertising has listed a lot of awards we've won: Best Pick from Consumer's Choice; Institute of Highway Safety award.

These are surrogates for quality in the consumer's mind [and not] gobbledy-gook. A Best Buy endorsement says "quality." You can't say "2.5 defects per hundred vehicles." Frankly I was surprised at how many [endorsements] we had when I got here and am surprised we aren't using them

more in our marketing.

BW: In terms of marketing, what advantages do U.S. automakers have over imports?

Murphy: While [Toyota, et al] used to only have cars and we'd take [their customers away] with SUVs and trucks, now they have all the product. And once you get into the Toyota family you are hard-pressed to leave. That means we have to track them all along the way It's a tougher battle.

The way to compete is on emotion. Their mindset is that they sell appliances; they sell reliability and dependability, but not emotion. When was the last time you saw someone get pumped up over a Corolla? Vehicles like PT Cruiser are emotional; they give our customer a tighter connection with the brand. I'm convinced that if you can combine quality and emotion, you can compete on their terms.