Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

On my marketing blog I just mentioned the power of marketing the future, and what it means to a company. With that in mind, I came across another announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show by General Motors (GM) CEO Rick Wagoner that illustrates and underscores that strategy.

The idea of driverless cars is a great case study in marketing the future. Immediately most people will respond with a "wow!". Another thing that happens is a picture immediately is placed in your mind of the possibility and what it would look like being in a car without a human driver.

What I want to talk about here is how things like this can position a company in the minds of consumers and customers.

Let's take GM itself. It's reeling and struggling in the global automotive market at this time, as are all U.S. automakers. They need people to start thinking of them as a forward-thinking, innovative company, rather than a dinosaur, which the American automotive industry is starting to resemble.

To that end the announcement of a driverless car is a good move. Other companies already own the hybrid car vision, and going that route as a marketing and differentiation strategy is pretty much sown up and taken. So to announce a driverless car vision of the future, is a good attempt at getting people to think of GM as cool and interesting, rather than stodgy and yesterday's news.

By making the announcement, they're attempting to leapfrog over their competitors in the minds of consumers, and get them to start looking to them for what's coming next. Other than a declining core base, most people don't look to GM for market leadership in the auto industry any more. That's what this announcement is all about.

Anyway, this is definitely a smart strategy and something we all need to consider, no matter what industry we're in. The battle for the present has already been one by whoever is the leader today. Marketing and providing the vision for the future is what the battle is about now.

Whoever wins the battle of envisioning the future, and is able to deliver the promises made, will be those who win the eventual present coming down the line. The present isn't the only place there is to market to. This is another great example of that reality.