• by Bill McCloskey , March 9, 2005

It's March Madness time so I thought it might be interesting to peak into what the auto manufactures are up to with their e-mail marketing. I took a look at the last two weeks of e-mail messages to see what Detroit is up to these days:

Lexus: Probably the most exciting e-mail I received was an E-rewards e-mail for Lexus. The offer invited me to customize my Lexus and then have them send me a booklet showing me the Lexus I had customized compared to two competing cars of my choice. They also wisely asked me to sign up for their Lexus Pursuit newsletter, which of course, I did. The graphics where sharp and the jump page took me to a series of well crafted and intriguing animations.  Everything about the promotion said Luxury. A+

Chrysler Jeep: Jeep spent their money last week on a "Win an Insider's Trip to the City of Your Choice" promotion on the newsletter The Daily Candy. Not much Eye Candy on the Daily Candy, just a small banner at the top of the e-mail, but the sign-up page for the promotion was simple, easy to fill out, and direct. B+

BMW: BMW bought a banner on The New York Times "Drive Time" e-mail newsletter. The jump page took me to a somewhat personalized page (personalized in that it took me to a Tristate BMW promotional page). Wonder what the folks in Peoria got? The promotion page was just plain butt-ugly. I imagine the local Tristate BMW owners got together and had the secretary design it. It didn't say luxury, it said cheap suit serenade. D

Jaguar: Jaguar sent out their highly functional, well designed newsletter. Lots of stuff to do here: personalize your car, get a brochure, locate a dealer, send to a friend. Looks like they went right down the checklist. The only problem I have is that it looks similar to a number of the other automotive manufacturers newsletters I get. But still, nicely done. B

Audi: Audi should take a look at what Jaguar is doing. The Audi e-mail newsletters seem somewhat like the Jag newsletter with all the special options taken out: no brochure, no dealer locater, no nothing. Some nice text and a couple of pretty pictures. C+ 

Cadillac:  Cadillac, despite recent marketing efforts to try and prove the opposite, is still your grandfather's car, based on their e-mail strategy. An attempt to get on the Cadillac e-mail list garnered this -email message from Cadillac:  "Thank you for contacting Cadillac and for your interest in the 2005 Cadillac Escalade! Unfortunately, it would be virtually impossible for us to e-mail you all of the specifications and information on this breathtaking vehicle. We recommend visiting http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/models/gallery.jsp?model=escalade. Also, unfortunately Cadillac does not have a mailing list. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause." YIKES! Probably causes more inconvenience for them than it does for me. What century does this company think it's in? I guess, since they don't have an email list, it WOULD be virtually impossible to e-mail me the specifications. Zero to Loserville in less than five seconds. F-

GMC: On the other hand, General Motors sent me a personalized e-mail for every model I requested: The GMC Sierra, Canyon, Envoy, Yukno, Savana, and the GMC Safari. Somehow they had no problem squeezing all those car specs into their e-mail message. They also provided me, in the body of the e-mail, all their latest offers and specials. Well Done GMC. A+