Every time I see Cadillac’s commercial for their 2010 SRX crossover, I wince. They come so close with this one, but they still can’t seem to clearly stake out their brand position.

First, the commercial starts with a picture of the SRX – a nice car, but it’s a crossover. If Cadillac is trying to reclaim the luxury automobile market top brand position, it’s hard to do so with a car segment that evokes imagery of sport, utility, and fun. These are areas that fit more with Chevy’s brand position (or GMC’s) than Cadillac’s. (That’s not to say that a luxury brand can’t have a crossover – Lexus has one – but it’s easier when you’re at the top.)

Next, the music, imagery, and wording (re-envisioned, reorganized, reactivated, reignite) are all more evocative of upbeat fun and styling. This would seem to be a brand position that Buick should occupy.

Finally, the ad ends with the line, “The Cadillac of crossovers.” So, at the end of the ad, GM finally tries to position the car at the top of the luxury market. But by this point, it has spread its message across three brand positions.

GM has a great opportunity to turn itself around. It finally has an excellent line-up of cars. It just needs to solidify its brands in their correct positions in consumers’ minds.

Domus is a full-service marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.

GM recently launched its new advertising campaign for Buick with the slogan, “The New Class of World Class”. Moreover, Buick ads now prominently feature comparisons against Lexus. (And, in fact, people who are test-driving the 2010 Buick LaCrosse do say that it bests the Lexus ES.)

But how do these ads affect GM’s overall brand mix? Cadillac was always the brand the was positioned at the high end. (Cadillac’s advertising tagline use to be “The standard of the world.”) Over the years, though, Cadillac’s luster faded and Toyota seized the high end market position with the Lexus. So, by constantly comparing Buick to Lexus, is GM blurring the brand positions between Buck and Cadillac? If GM is successful in its Buick ads, how does Cadillac position itself?

Cadillac recently did come up with a great ad – for their SRX crossover. The tag line for this ad was “SRX – the Cadillac of crossovers.” So Cadillac is finally standing tall and proclaiming its former place at as the world standard. But will they limit this tag line to the SRX or will they make a full frontal assault to regain their status across all models? And will they be fighting a war on two fronts – against Lexus and against their sister brand, Buick?

Domus, Inc. is a full service marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.domusinc.com.