• December 2, 2009

Speaking at the L.A. Auto Show press scrum on Wednesday, Bob Lutz, General Motors vice chairman of marketing and communications, told an anecdotal story about a multinational corporation that decided to buy up dozens of cattle ranches out West. "They planned to make a tidy sum on livestock operations, and to make a killing on the oil and mineral rights that came with the ranches."

He went on to say that when the company's lawyers couldn't agree on what to call the new corporation, they decided to incorporate the names of all the ranches they had purchased with names like Circle J, Lazy M, Dancing K, the Flying Q Ranch, and Rocking Horse T. "They had a high-priced designer bundle all the names together in a corporate trademark, and incorporated the new company in Delaware," he said.

The punchline: At the company's first annual meeting, the chairman reported that the entire acquisition had been a big success -- with one exception. The ranching operations were a total loss. All the cattle were dead. Poison? No. "They didn't survive the branding."

That was an intro to an explanation of the focus on four core brands -- Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC -- and the "May The Best Car Win" campaign about promoting them, and their specific products.

He also said a key part of GM's business strategy is green technology.--Karl Greenberg