Brand management is an important tool when it comes to segment markets and to leverage positive perceptions (of a specific brand). But sometimes brand management can confuse customers and your company will receive very negative feedbacks. To illustrate this statement I have a brief example from the car industry.

General Motors (GM) operates the brand Chevrolet that can be described as a maker of automotive icons like Corvette sports car or Blazer jeep. Daewoo, a South Korean car maker, also belongs to the GM Empire. Due to an idea of GM, Chevrolet also transfers its large brand to small Daewoo cars like the Aveo. Once upon a time the Chevrolet Aveo was the Daewoo Kalos, than it became a Chevy car.

© GM Media; Source: Press information by Chevrolet Deutschland GmbH

Well, in the case that you buy a Chevrolet you will not be happy about those kind of statements from a current German newspaper: …Indeed it is hard to find superior attributes within the Aveo…”. That is not a good feedback, but at the end of the article an interesting mixture of feedback and humor creates a very sticky summary: what is left after 14 days of testing? “…we got a parking ticket…and a memory of the most lamely engine since an Opel Diesel car in 1990…”

I cannot believe that GM brand managers will be happy about this type of feedback. In the South Korean market the Chevrolet Aveo is still a Daewoo car, hence it would be helpful to transfer this approach to other markets and to protect the Chevrolet brand.