Dealership Branding
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/business/yourmoney/11show.html
I just finished reading an article in the New York Times titled, “Car Dealerships Face the Great Homogenization: by David Wethe.” The article covers the branding of auto-dealerships. The trend in major auto corporations is essentially to entice auto-dealerships to build single-brand architecture to convey a brand image. My initial response as I read the piece was negative, as the article continued to stress the burden of a homogenous image. It would be disheartening to see another onslaught of franchises spread across the asphalt-scape, yet I welcome the dealership branding movement. From my personal experience, I have yet to see an architecturally distinguished dealership. Prefabricated or not, they pretty much look the same, Volvo or Ford, they all have similar experiences. The auto manufacturers have finally caught on. Display cases sell. Architecture sells. From the consumer’s point of view, the experience of purchasing a vehicle is sold with images through advertisements, so the dealerships of today are dropping the ball with their bland showrooms offering coffee and donuts as ambiance and atmosphere. The new dealerships charm shoppers with an image through an architecture that shouts. Hummer’s stand alone dealership features an off-road course complete with mud, logs, and steep inclines. There is no doubt those who purchase an H2 from the new industrial-look Hummer showrooms will feel tingly each time she or he drives past the birthplace of their baby.
It has happened before and it will happen again. The little people with their family owned businesses will be forced out by big businesses and each suburban gathering will have all the familiar clumps of plastic signage glowing bright luring shoppers to buy things they never knew they needed. Is this the way of things to come, or will corporations build local franchises that morph and reshape according to local forces? The malleable nature of water allows for outside forces to change its course. If franchises could be more sensitive and malleable, they would be more profitable and desirable. Do they listen? Have we spoken? Do the masses desire the familiar?
I just finished reading an article in the New York Times titled, “Car Dealerships Face the Great Homogenization: by David Wethe.” The article covers the branding of auto-dealerships. The trend in major auto corporations is essentially to entice auto-dealerships to build single-brand architecture to convey a brand image. My initial response as I read the piece was negative, as the article continued to stress the burden of a homogenous image. It would be disheartening to see another onslaught of franchises spread across the asphalt-scape, yet I welcome the dealership branding movement. From my personal experience, I have yet to see an architecturally distinguished dealership. Prefabricated or not, they pretty much look the same, Volvo or Ford, they all have similar experiences. The auto manufacturers have finally caught on. Display cases sell. Architecture sells. From the consumer’s point of view, the experience of purchasing a vehicle is sold with images through advertisements, so the dealerships of today are dropping the ball with their bland showrooms offering coffee and donuts as ambiance and atmosphere. The new dealerships charm shoppers with an image through an architecture that shouts. Hummer’s stand alone dealership features an off-road course complete with mud, logs, and steep inclines. There is no doubt those who purchase an H2 from the new industrial-look Hummer showrooms will feel tingly each time she or he drives past the birthplace of their baby.
It has happened before and it will happen again. The little people with their family owned businesses will be forced out by big businesses and each suburban gathering will have all the familiar clumps of plastic signage glowing bright luring shoppers to buy things they never knew they needed. Is this the way of things to come, or will corporations build local franchises that morph and reshape according to local forces? The malleable nature of water allows for outside forces to change its course. If franchises could be more sensitive and malleable, they would be more profitable and desirable. Do they listen? Have we spoken? Do the masses desire the familiar?
posted by cw at 1/11/2004 09:22:00 PM
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