What's Up, GM?

Brandweek, Sept 11, 2000 by David Finnigan, Jeff Green

A year in, GM'S partnership with Warner Bros. has borne some successes, but not the big-budget movie tie-in many were expecting.

The commercial centers on a tornado ripping through the storm-ravaged Midwest, debris littering the blacktop as a traffic light swaying in the gale switches from green to red. As an oncoming twister subsides, a Chevy Monte Carlo appears. At the wheel sits Warner Brothers' animated Tasmanian Devil, who grumbles to himself as he waits for the light to change. "Click" and the funnel cloud races off again.

The spot, which ran last fall and was created by Campbell Ewald, Warren, Mich., stands as one of the most visible signs yet of GM'S mandate from CEO Rick Wagoner to identify and exploit alliances with its strategic entertainment partner, Warner Bros. One year into a four-year pact, the two companies have found respectable sales of their cornerstone product, the customized "Warner Bros. Edition" of Chevrolet's Venture minivan. GM has created 20,000 of the minivans, one-fifth its annual production, marking the first time the studio licensed its famed shield outside the company Introductory sales hit 1,072 units in late 1999, and during first quarter 2000 the company sold almost 5,000 units, putting the minivan on target for quarterly sales goals.

What's missing, however, is the sort of big-budget movie tie-in one might expect from a partnership with Warner Bros. Which begs the question: Wouldn't a family minivan promotion be right--even ideal--for the scheduled 2001 fall release of Warner Bros.' film version of the children's bestseller Horny Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?

Warner Bros. has a delicate relationship with Potter author J.K. Rowling. Sources said Rowling shot down several of the studio's tie-in ideas, including character merchandise tied to Burger King, during a meeting this summer in the United Kingdom.Bob Schneider, Warner Bros.svp for worldwide corporate promotions, would not discuss the meeting or any promotional plans for Potter, though he later said that GM had not been specifically discussed with Rowling. "I don't want to even discuss Harry Potter. Let's just drop that," he said.

Yet the lack of a blockbuster movie tie-in has been vexing for GM and Warner Bros., as each learns the other's production cycles and promotion schedules. "It takes a long time to develop programs that work for both sides and we're in the process of working through all this stuff," Schneider said. "Timing is an issue. Timing of when their car launches occur and where we're launching creative content."

The four-year, non-binding deal was announced Aug. 5, 1999, on the studio's Burbank, Calif., lot. There, Time Warner chairman Gerald Levin remarked, "When you see the WB shield, the logo, on a GM car, that's an extraordinary event."

The minivan sports exterior logos of Bugs Bunny leaning against the Warner Bros.shield; another logo graces the bottom of an overhead flipdown TV screen, per the vehicle's tri-mode CD/radio/VCR sound system. Customers who purchase the minivan are given a "Venturetainment" package of coupons, Warner Music CDs and 10% discounts at Warner Bros. Studio Stores.

Former GM executive Jim Hall, now a vp at consulting firm AutoPacific in Detroit, said tying cars to studio stores and evergreen cartoon characters is a better route than tie-ins to movies that can come and go in two weeks if they flop. "Warner Bros.is more than feature films," Hall said. "It's television, it's a giant library of cartoons, and let's face it--that's really the one they're leveraging. A single film is bad for GM because rarely does a film have the legs of a model year."

Warner execs would not provide statistics on how the cross-promotion has boosted video or studio store sales over the past 13 months. Warner Bros.vp-promotions and branded foods Dave Hedrick said the co-branded vehicle alliance was "actually going very well," but acknowledged that it lacked a major promotional platform. "It's finding the right partner and the project that makes sense for everybody," he said. "We don't want to create branded vehicles that have characters all over [them]."

Under the deal, GM has the right of first review on all Warner Bros. properties. It pays Warner Bros. royalty fees for use of Looney Toons characters on the Venture, such as Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil in TV spots and print ads. Cross-promotions are to include 15GM partnerships with the WB Network and Warner Bros.' film, music and studio stores.

Schneider emphasized that the focus so far has been setting up dedicated lines of communication about cross-promotion and co-branding. "We've established a process," he said. "They have people on their side who are dedicated to the cross-pollination of ideas. The subject matter has to be appropriate. Not every film lends itself to a third party. That goes back to the timing issue. It's being able to stick to that long-term vision."

Candace Robbins, GM's director of direct marketing, entertainment advertising and corporate marketing, said there is plenty of evidence that the two companies are finding ways to leverage their link-up, such as the Taz ties to both Monte Carlo and Nascar promotions, the co-branded Chevy Venture and a Batman link with OnStar that saw the caped crusader interacting with the roadside assistance crew.