GM: Buick ads to downplay Tiger Woods; golfer to tout OnStar

Link to Original Article @ The Detroit News

Tiger Woods will end his eight-year stint as the main spokesman for General Motors Corp.'s Buick division, the automaker said today.

Instead, the golf phenomenon will help tout the OnStar roadside assistance program, which GM has heavily promoted in recent years.

The switch was prompted by a desire to refocus Buick marketing on the product, the company said.

"We don't want a celebrity at the core of any brand. We want the message on Buick to be about Buick," said Mark LaNeve.

But, he said, GM still wants to capitalize on Woods' star appeal. The golfer still will appear in Buick ads, but not as the main focus of campaigns.

"Tiger's a great asset and he's got an association with General Motors. Why not use him beyond Buick?"

The extent of Woods' involvement with OnStar is unclear but GM indicated he won't be the only celebrity helping to promote the service.

Woods started as Buick's spokesman in 1999, according to the automaker's Web site.

Organizers of next week's Buick Open at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc are still hoping Woods will put in an appearance, but that's uncertain due to the June 18 birth of his first child, a daughter named Sam Alexis Woods.

I honestly never liked Tiger as a spokesman for Buick, but didn't we hear just a few months ago that Tiger was going to be played up for future Buick products? Am I wrong?

They rolled him out for the Enclave at the auto show, I think it was LA show.

I agree with this decision. Instead of "Hey look, Tiger is driving a Buick because we pay him to," we'll get "Look how freakin awesome this Buick is!"

I foresee a commercial in about a years time with Daddy woods driving an Enclave with Baby woods in the back seat.

I'm not really surprised. Like most advert campaigns, they start getting old and pointless. The same thing happened here and now that Buick is really trying to fix it's image with new products, the best thing to do is showcase them and not a pro-golfer.

Whatever, and I could care less whatever moves the most cars.

Get rid of Tiger Woods for good, I say. He didn't help move Buick's stuff at all, what makes them think he'll be a better spokesman elsewhere?

Buick needs really ruthless marketing to get back into shape. Its finally getting the products, now it needs to beat into the heads of its target market that it is better than those other guys.

Btw, when you see the subject line from the main forum page, all it says is "Buick ditches Tiger for actual..." I half expected to see "actual tiger!" when I clicked on it.

I like the idea of being more product focused, but I don't think they should drop him from Buick altogether. Lexus was all over the U.S. Open this year...and for a reason. If Buick is going after Lexus, they need to have a strong presence in golf. I do think they can do that while centering on the product, but Tiger can still do a lot of good for Buick...especially if they get some more new products.

BTW, what relevance does Tiger have to OnStar??

Edited June 22, 200718 yr by Windy-57

I think LaNeve is really shaking up marketing and PR (FINALY!!!!)

Tiger DOES need to be more of an accessory as opposed to the main focus IMO. Buick finally has product that can stand on it's own as opposed to having to be lit by a star.

This is old news because these OnStar commercials are already out. Even the one with woods locking himself out of the Buick Enclave.

Tiger didn't seem to work out too well. Hopefully we'll see good Buick advertising now.

No celebrity will work out well if the product can't first stand on its own.

Now we have the Enclave. Let's keep things going GM.

Agreed: Objectively, I never could see that Woods was a positive contributor, esp at the money paid.

Subjectively, I thought the concept was a monsterous waste of time.

Best money-saving idea they could have.

Get rid of Tiger Woods for good, I say. He didn't help move Buick's stuff at all, what makes them think he'll be a better spokesman elsewhere?

Buick needs really ruthless marketing to get back into shape. Its finally getting the products, now it needs to beat into the heads of its target market that it is better than those other guys.

+1 on the marketing thing.

Chris