GM's image recovers August 25, 2005 BY KORTNEY STRINGER FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER General Motors Corp.'s Employee Discount for Everyone campaign did more than jump-start car sales. It might also have revved up its battered corporate image. In the second quarter, the world's largest automaker had one of the best reputations of the nation's top 100 companies in terms of revenue, beating out other stalwarts such as Coca-Cola Co. and Bank of America Corp. in the Delahaye Index, a quarterly assessment of how media affect corporate reputations. GM, which this year temporarily pulled its ads from the Los Angeles Times because of the newspaper's coverage of the automaker, ranked No. 4, while heavyweights Microsoft Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Time Warner Inc. took the top three spots on the list. Other metro Detroit companies were in the index, including Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co. and Troy-based Delphi Corp. Ford, which ranked No. 21, was in the news in June after it said it would cut 1,700 salaried jobs by Oct.1, suspend 401(k) contributions and eliminate management bonuses for the year. It was also highlighted as one of the top performers in J.D. Power and Associates dependability survey. Meanwhile, Delphi, near the bottom at No. 99, has been in the news frequently for its attempts to cut costs to avoid bankruptcy. Unlike opinion surveys, which ask about peoples' perceptions of companies, the Delahaye national index uses complex formulas to rate U.S. companies' reputations based on the amount of national media coverage -- both positive and negative -- they receive in terms of financial performance, labor and other issues. Companies that wind up at the top of the index tend to have lots of coverage, in general, and more positive image-building news, in particular. The index monitors the largest newspapers, television broadcasters and magazines, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Detroit Free Press, ABC World News and MSNBC. "We can predict whether or not people will read a story, what they'll remember about it and whether what they remember will be good or bad about the company," said K.C. Brown, Delahaye's senior vice president. "We're tracking how the news shapes the reputation of companies and peoples' opinions of the companies." GM jumped five places from No. 9 in the index in the first quarter, when it posted its worst quarterly performance in 13 years and credit analysts downgraded the company to junk-bond status. During the second quarter, GM appeared in news reports more than 7,000 times -- the largest total number of mentions of any company during the three-month period, according to the index. The Detroit automaker's current ranking in the index can be attributed to a number of factors that have put GM in the news during the quarter, including its recent quality accolades and its employee-discount pricing program. GM made front-page news nationally after it became the first automaker to extend its worker discount to customers on most 2005 model year cars. It received a lot of coverage, not only due to the program, but also because of the accompanying ad campaign, which featured employees in TV commercials, expressing their pride in the automaker. The incentive program also made news after other automakers followed suit, including Ford, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group and some foreign dealerships. Even companies in other industries copied the promotion. GM likewise wound up in the news a lot in June after it outperformed competitors in a number of categories in J.D. Power's annual dependability and initial-quality surveys. Ironically, GM, which stopped advertising in the Times for three months over disagreements about coverage, said it tracks the tone of national media coverage itself. And it concluded that overall coverage has been balanced. "When you're a large and complex enterprise such as ourselves, you're always going to find elements that are perceived positive in one case and negative in others. "Sometimes you deserve negative coverage and sometimes you don't," said Tom Kowaleski, GM's vice president of global communications, adding: "People are starting to pay attention to the things we're doing to turn around our operations in North America." Contact KORTNEY STRINGER at 313-223-4479 or stringer@freepress.com. Web source: http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/corprep25e_20050825.htm
The motoring media seems to have it in for GM for some reason. I get several industry rags and have noticed a definate bias. :stir:
