Car ad campaigns should be simple, evocative, and forward looking. "Ask the man who owns one," "ultimate driving machine," that sort of thing. They should not actively remind your buyers of the time your company helped kill one of the great names in automobilia.


Chevy is dropping "Chevy Runs Deep" as of today for the new line "Find New Roads." We suppose that line is good enough on its own. It's basically the same as the old line "Find Your Own Road," which was voted as the favorite ad campaign of… Saab USA.

And there's the problem. While the line sounds good for people who don't know how GM helped commit Saab to an early grave, for everyone else it will be a constant reminder of classic GM mismanagement.


Now, I don't think that most of GM's target audience even knows that GM ever even owned that one strange Swedish car company, but if it becomes obvious that GM poached the line from one of its dead brands and it could end up as more egg on the General's face.

(Hat tip to idrive2!)

Photo Credit: Saab