GM Runs Unconventional Plays to Drive Hybrid Agenda

Market Wire, October, 2008

The Playmaker's Standard, LLC today released an illustrated analysis of the media strategies employed by Detroit-based General Motors Corporation. The independent study reveals how GM is using communications and media to build competitive advantage in the coveted hybrid electric vehicle market and generate interest in its much-anticipated Chevy Volt.

Media Microscope(TM) Study: GM Runs Unconventional Plays to Fuel Chevy Volt

Based on The Playmaker's Table(TM) , a classification framework of 25 irreducibly unique stratagems or plays, the analysis demonstrates how GM has recently portrayed new products and programs to both recast its embattled brand and counter detractors, notably skeptical environmental groups, financial analysts, and industry watchers. Principal findings of the study include:

-- GM employs a diversity of influence stratagems (12 of 25 plays), reflecting considerable mastery by the automaker of influence and public opinion.

-- GM executives, notably Bob Lutz, freely admit failure and fault, atypical of most large-company play-it-safe media practices.

-- To that end, GM uses counter-intuitive strategies, defined in the playmaker system as the Disco , Bear Hug and Lantern . These high-risk plays have helped the car giant buy time in the hybrid electric market and re-earn the public's trust and interest in its new-generation initiatives.

The analysis and companion PDF-printable map was created on StrategyMapper(TM), a patent-pending web-tool that illustrates patterns, sequences and trends of influence strategies in a defined marketplace. Data were aggregated using StrategySnapshot(TM).

The Playmaker's Standard, LLC , based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, is a management consulting and web software services firm specializing in communication and competitive strategy. CEO and Founder, Alan Kelly , is a visionary business strategist, political commentator, and award-winning Silicon Valley CEO. He is the author of The Elements of Influence , the landmark book which details The Playmaker's Table, the first periodic table of influence strategy. Kelly writes two blogs: Playmaker's Forum , a regular deconstruction of spin and strategy in business and pop-culture, and Plays for the Presidency , a non-partisan analysis and XM POTUS 08 iTunes podcast of the moves and counter-moves of the 2008 Presidential Election.