Re: 1955-57 What-If Line-Up

Posted by Loyd Smith On 2010/12/26 11:03:54

55PackardGuy wrote:

"And get going quickly on some decent ADVERTISING! Nance moaned and groaned about the lousy ad campaigns and the need to change agencies from day one, but not enough happened. You can blame design and manufacturing all you want, but inadequate marketing--to customers and dealers-- contributed mightily to Packard's demise IMO. Packard had long rested on its laurels and assumed that Quality would sell itself, but that could not work in the new consumer economy."

I have long thought that, post-war, PMCC missed the boat entirely on their advertising, especially from 1946 to 1950. They were still building wonderful senior cars - equal or in many cases surpassing Cadillac and Lincoln in luxury and quality if, perhaps in some cases, not performance. They didn't advertise them however as in the pre-war years when they let the senior cars sell the junior ones. Instead, they ran their advertising campaigns as though they'd left the luxury field and were only building mid-market. A whole generation had matured during the war years and needed reminding that Packard's existence had begun in the luxury market and, though they built lower market product, that product was grounded in and based on traditional Packard quality.