Microsite.com

In 2006, Cadillac hired a new global marketing director, Liz Vanzura. She promptly fired its long-time ad agency, Leo Burnett, and handed the $200 million business to Modernista – the agency that handles Hummer and has a history of producing killer car spots. The new team quickly updated the marketing strategy and produced killer ads.

They also launched a Microsite at www.mycadillacstory.com, and created a home on YouTube, encouraging enthusiasts to tell their own Cadillac stories.

The Microsite is supported by a print campaign that appeared, among other places, in The Wall Street Journal. The ad features Joan Jett (Joan Jett?) in front of a Caddy with the copy, “Joan Jett’s first office was the trunk of a Cadillac. The best Cadillac stories are lived and shared. Hear Joan’s. Share yours. www.mycadillacstory.com.”

I was all fired up to love the whole campaign. It seemed to have all the pieces in place for great success. It had access to great content. (The TV commercials are just plain cool.) It told its story via video. It enabled consumer-generated content. It tied into YouTube.

Then I looked around. Now I didn’t spend hours researching it, and Cadillac didn’t return calls seeking comment. But something seemed amiss.

As of today, January 15, 2007, Cadillac has posted only two enthusiasts’ stories on the Microsite. The “News” section says, “We plan to use this space to keep you up-to-date with everything happening here…” Isn’t that the equivalent of an “Under Construction” page? The “About” section features two generic paragraphs.

Hmm. This would be OK for a start-up. Or for a company with stretched resources (like Microsite.com). But for Christ’s sake, this is GM. As in General Motors. You’re telling me they can’t hire someone to update the “News” section?

Next, go to the YouTube page. It has only two comments. As far as I can tell, no enthusiasts have posted original videos. Some of the Cadillac produced videos have been viewed less than 100 times. Damn, “Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot” has more than 1 million views.

Which may be the point.

Somehow, the whole endeavor seems a bit too polished and contrived.

First of all, the strategy has been done before by, among quite a few others, Mercedes’ “Born Too Early” and Apple’s “What’s on Your Mac.”

Second, and unlike the TV ads, the strategy seems to be too apparent in the creative executions. It’s like they’re trying too hard to tell us that Cadillac is now cool, young(er) and hip. They use Joan Jett as a spokesperson. Let’s see if I can do the math: Joan was part of my rebel youth. But now she’s mellowed, like me, but still cool (I think?) and hip. Am I supposed to identify with or aspire to be her? Didn’t she write the lines, “Hell. Hell is for Hell.”? Then there’s Fat Joe. OK. I’ll grant you he’s probably way too cool and hip for me to know who he is. So I’ll just go along. Cadillac = cool and hip. Like Joan Jett and Fat Joe. Got it.

Third, it seems as if Cadillac – or more accurately Modernista –– put its second or third team on the project. And the team didn’t really understand the subtleties of viral or word-of-mouth marketing. It’s all about being authentic and real. This just seems corporate. Down to the planted comments on the YouTube videos, “Great video, GM needs more inspiring marketing tools like this one.”

Really? That’s real and authentic? Have you ever been to YouTube?

More to the point: Can you imagine Porsche or BMW doing something similar?

Go to YouTube and type in Porsche. Now that’s real and authentic.