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- [00:06]
John Evans
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the uncensored cmo. Now, this is a bit of a breaking news episode because we're going to be recording some of this from the back of a car. Not just any car, the brand new Cadillac Escalade. It is quite an astonishing car. In fact, later in this episode, you'll hear me rave on about it. But anyway, I want to find out what does it take to relaunch an iconic American brand like Cadillac and bring it into the age of electrification? So I'm catching up with their CMO, Melissa, and alongside their creative partner, 72 and Sunny, to find out all that went into relaunching this iconic car. Here it is. So, Melissa from Cadillac and Marianne from 72 and Sonny, welcome to the show.
- [00:43]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Thank you so much for having us. Can't wait for the talk today.
- [00:46]
Marianne
Yeah, thrilled to be here.
- [00:48]
John Evans
Melissa, tell us how you got into marketing and what got you to Cadillac.
- [00:52]
Melissa Grady Diaz
So two very different things there. And how I got into marketing is very. It's sort of a funny story, or maybe not. But as a child, I always wanted to be in marketing and advertising. And to the point of when I was younger and I used to put on skits or plays for my family, they had commercial breaks. There are several times in my childhood where I think my mother questioned if I was okay or normal, which the answer is definitely no. And so I just always wanted to be in advertising. And I remember, you know, growing up when I did, it's interesting, you know, I used to love who's the Boss? And I wanted to be Angela, and that was my dream. So going into college, I knew I wanted to be in advertising. And I went to DePaul. And I remember the first day of my advertising class, and I was so excited because I had to earn the credits to get into advertising. And I walked up to my teacher the first day and I said, this is what I want to do. Help me. And she did. She took me under her wing. Her name is Katherine Schulte, and she was one of my favorite teachers and also taught at Northwestern. So she helped guide me into grad school. And for grad school, I was going into Northwestern's IMC program, which has all aspects of advertising and marketing. And I was going in with the major of advertising, and we were talking about when we grew up earlier today. And so going into Northwestern, I had a student mentor who was going to show me, you know, at the time we had a computer lab, something that I don't think exists anymore. And the vending machines Et cetera. Neil was my mentor and he was supposed to just show me around the campus. And about a week before the program started, he asked me the question that is I will identify as one of the turning points in my life. And he said, do you like math? And I said, I like math, but I want to do marketing. That's what I've always wanted. And it was advertising. That's all I knew. I want to do advertising. And he said it's a very interesting time in the world right now where math and marketing and technology are all coming together. And Northwestern has a program on it. Not a lot of people know how to do this. So if you go into this part of the program, you're going to learn these skills, you'll have them. You can always still do advertising. But if you like math at all, then I suggest that you change what you're doing. I found out later he was in the direct program and there were fewer people there and they were very competitive. So he was maybe a little self serving in it. But it literally was a question and a moment that changed my life. And I went into grad school and learned about how data and statistics and technology can enable amazing creativity. And it's been my passion my entire career.
- [03:40]
John Evans
Because we have to have this like battle, don't we, between data led or being creative. But data gets us to what the problem is, an insight into the audience and creativity comes up with the solution and the ideas and kind of propels us forward. It's a blend of both, isn't it? And I guess talking about creativity, Marianne, how did you. What's been your journey to into advertising into 72?
- [04:00]
Marianne
Well, not a similar story, but I was in college, I went to an accounting class and everything was about staying within the box. And I was like, this is not for me, like follow these rules, do these things. If you do this, you'll get this. I was like, yeah, that's not the way my brain works. And a friend of mine was like, you should come over to the journalism school, which was a communique, had the communications program. And the very first class was a brand coming in and you got an assignment and you've got to come up with a marketing campaign for it. Everything from a media plan to the creative work. And it was the first time that I, I was working in a collaborative environment and I was like, this is where I thrive. I don't want to be doing anything by myself. Whatever I'm going to do, I want to do it with people. And in that Particular situation, I was working with a creative person who was an amazing. He could draw like no one I've ever, ever seen. And so we ended up doing these ads that stood out better, by the way, this is before computers, just to give you a little bit of context. So our ads looked a lot different than everybody else's. So talk about the value. Value of creativity and just how we solved the problems. And at the very end, you would present it to the clients and all of the teachers, and the client bought our work. And that was kind of like the beginning of me getting the hook of, oh, I like this world. And just because there's so many different brilliant minds that work in this business, and we all come together and use our creativity to build business.
- [05:36]
John Evans
It's funny, isn't it? Like, we all have a moment that we kind of go back to and go, yeah, that's when it all changed. I mean, for me, weirdly, I started out in accountancy, and I was actually doing someone's tax return, right? So it does not get more boring than doing a tax return. And I was just asking this guy, so, what do you do for a job? And he worked in marketing. And I just got talking to him. I thought. I thought, I need to be on the other side of the table. I want someone else to be adding up the numbers I've created rather than me doing the adding up. Is it weird how these little moments then sort of like, project you in a completely new direction?
- [06:05]
Marianne
Well, and you have all these ideas. Like, you think, okay, I'm gonna go and get a business degree, and then I can do any business. Right. And that is true, except you want to find something that you're really passionate about. And when you. That's the beautiful thing about college is you can try on a lot of different things and figure out what you're interested in. And then when you're interested in something and your passion comes to the table, that is the difference of being good and great at something, in my opinion.
- [06:31]
John Evans
Because education often focuses on kind of certain skill sets, you know, your scientific, your mathematical, your English. And I was trying to work out which department does the ideas. Right. Because I want to be in the ideas department, where you come up with stuff. And I kind of thought that maybe marketing might be the closest to that.
- [06:47]
Marianne
Probably still is.
- [06:48]
John Evans
Yeah, I reckon so. So, Melissa, tell us about Cadillac, because Cadillac is one of those kind of iconic American brands. If you think of kind of, you know, classic American brands, how do you kind of, you know, manage a brand with so Much heritage and history and modernize it.
- [07:03]
Melissa Grady Diaz
I think most brands, maybe all, all brands and companies have a DNA that is just intrinsic in who they are. And so coming into Cadillac, for me it was really about digging deep in and understanding what this brand is. And Cadillac is it. I think what's interesting, and you called it an iconic brand right when, when we started looking and coming into. Because we're really looking at having a full EV portfolio within the next couple months, we will have a vehicle in every segment of EV SUVs. As we were moving into EV, we had to say, this is a big moment. We're at the precipice of something very big here. Who are we going to be and what is that going to look like? We had to go back to the heritage. And when we, we asked ourselves a question, and we asked ourselves the question, if Cadillac disappeared from the world, what would be missing? And the answer was so simple and beautiful. It's an American icon and a symbol of the American dream. And those are things that have always been true from 1902, when this company was born, to now. And we're always innovating, we're always moving and that's really what we tapped into. And so I just, I feel like this brand, I'm constantly just making sure that I let Cadillac be the best brand that it can be, be the best version of itself that it can be.
- [08:35]
John Evans
EVs one of those moments that completely changes the industry, isn't it? Because I think, you know, motor cars have kind of been motored by the same propulsion for 100 or so years. And then EV electrification comes along and it completely changed everything. So how, as a manufacturer do you deal with something that kind of almost seems to level the playing field?
- [08:53]
Melissa Grady Diaz
And I'm not sure that it levels the playing field, but it is very interesting to look at something that we have been doing for 100 years and look at what is going to stay the same and what's going to be different and how do we help customers through it. And one of the things we looked at coming in, in 2019, as we're coming into this decade of the 2000s, we look back and it's very interesting if you go back 100 years to the 1920s and as the 20s started, there were more horse and buggies than there were combustion engine vehicles. With this 20s, we're coming in with more internal combustion engine, gas powered engines. And coming out of it, we're going to be, whether it's more or not, we don't really we'll see how we're all adapting and where things go. But a huge shift in this decade that we have. And so I think it's. We're having to lean into the manufacturing excellence and processes that we. And at the same time, almost blank slate. And how would we do this completely differently? And where do those things come together? So it's actually a lot of fun to be part of. And it's fascinating every day the things that we're discovering just by having this opportunity to take a new look at things.
- [10:12]
Marianne
And it's a totally different product. So I think one of the things we spend a lot of time talking about is, like, you're not launching the next vehicle. It is a different product. And so how you launch an EV is different than how you would launch an ICE car. It is like the consumer, where the consumer's at with it, the different features. There's so many different things that come to the table. You have to really think about, okay, this is not just another car, it's an ev and it's different. And so that is a really fun challenge.
- [10:45]
Melissa Grady Diaz
And what does someone need to know that they might not know? What are the fears? Because there's. It's a very different thing, I think, where, you know, we say, they're all great vehicles. It's a very different thing when you have to start to think about, how do I charge this versus putting gas, and what do I have to learn? What is one pedal driving, what is regenerative braking, all these things. And so the education part of it does become very fun. And it's like, familiar and different at the same time, which I think that's.
- [11:15]
John Evans
Part of the key, isn't it? Because I know for me, I've only recently bought an ev, but, you know, you have those worries about, you know, where do I charge? Will it charge quick enough? Will I run out? There's a whole lot of questions in your mind, isn't it? So you. The challenge is, how do you make something that is a big leap, feel like a small leap to people and make it kind of familiar? And that's what I think, because you've got all your range now, am I right? And say all your range now is both combustion engine and EV as well?
- [11:41]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yes. So we have a wide breadth of vehicles now, and it is interesting. I think that's been. And for us, what we really want to do is to get more people behind the wheel, even if it's for a little bit, just to understand EVs are really fun to Drive instantaneous torque is no joke. It is really fun. And I think the biggest anxiety people have is, how am I going to charge this? And I went through this a few years ago when I started driving them. You go from this mindset of how far can I get, I'm putting gas and how far when do I need to get gas again? And yes, it's very easy to get gas, but most, the majority of the time there's only a small percentage when you're not driving and charging at home, which means that you don't actually have like. It's good to know the calculation because there's going to be the road trip, you're gonna be driving to Montreal or wherever you might be going, but the rest of the time you're going home and you're plugging in your car at night, just like you plug in your phone and in the morning it's ready to go and it's a huge shift and things feel so big and heavy when we don't know them. And as soon as you try it, you're like, oh, actually, this is actually better than what I thought.
- [12:56]
John Evans
I remember the exact moment I was convinced, actually. And the guy in the dealership said to me, because I said, I'm slightly worried about if I take a long trip and I run out of electric, I'm not sure whether the charging points. He just said to me, how many times a year do you drive 300 miles in one go? And I sat there and thought, I don't. There is no scenario I could think of. And the UK is a bit small in America, that gets you across the entire country. But actually when we think about, there are very few occasions where actually you wouldn't have the range. And the other thing that's amazing is the speeding times to power back the car is incredible now compared to a few years ago.
- [13:34]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yeah, it is. It's really, you know, honestly, now you plug in the car and by the time you get into, you know, we've kind of said, are we going to grab a snack, are we going to go to the bathroom? And you can literally, I have a baby. By the time I get him out of the car, get him in, whatever, we go in, I change a diaper, we come back, we're ready to go. It's very fast.
- [13:54]
John Evans
Now, to your point, Marion, you're talking about kind of a different audience and a different kind of behavior change. So how do you convince people to get into EVs compared to combustion engine? Is there a different approach marketing wise? Do you think?
- [14:07]
Marianne
Yeah, you know, we're at an inflection point I think with EVs where most people now know about them and we're not having to do a lot of education, which was an amazing part of this launch. Right. Because we were really looking at the brand. Right. This is such an iconic brand and it has such special meaning and DNA. And within that your next product is going to help write the next chapter of Cadillac. So for us it was really about deeply understanding the brand and deeply understanding the audience of and what connected those two things. And then you can, whether or not you're launching an EV or whatever Cadillac wants to do next, you can do it on top of that foundation. So we really spent a lot of time deeply understanding the mindset of the audience and understanding the brand because it's such an amazingly story based.
- [15:04]
John Evans
It's one of those iconic brands that you think about. What were the kind of insights you came up with as you going through the process?
- [15:10]
Marianne
Oh, so amazing. Number one, this represents success. Cadillac represents success. And the cool thing about the generational changes is that success looks and feels different to people, people now. And so once we started to really look and listen, one of our favorite stats was that most people who drove a Cadillac had a pool in their backyard.
- [15:35]
John Evans
Oh.
- [15:36]
Marianne
And that just took us down this path of you start to understand success today and to our audience is about sharing your success with others. It's not about being alone in your own success. You are successful to share it together. And that pool insight just started. It took us from achievement into celebration. And celebration is usually about making things an occasion. And that just got us to this amazing moment where we realized when you take the Cadillac, it is not going for a drive. It becomes an occasion when you take the Cadillac now.
- [16:19]
Melissa Grady Diaz
And I think it was so amazing when we hit that point I think to go back and I also, as we've talked about, I'm very data oriented. And when I started at Cadillac there were the two facts that we immediately found out. We way over index on the title of CEO and president and there's a very high index of people having pools and going back into the history of what Cadillac has always been and a symbol of the American dream, the CEO and president is because we have so many entrepreneurs. And when you start your company you're like, I'm the president of Melissa Grady Diaz, like incorporated, whatever it is, the pool was always a little harder for us to uncover what that meant. The other thing I think and this was some of the just the beauty of when we were working together. Cadillac is so woven into the history of both the country and of people's lives, people's stories, people. I love the fact that people come up to me all the time and say, when my uncle came to this country, my grandma was so proud the day that like we've got all of these stories and what we realized and we've always known that about ourselves, but I think the big unlock together that we came to was that that moment, that moment of pride isn't about buying the Cadillac, it's about every time you get in. And that sense of occasion and that sense of sharing joy and that's I think, just what. It's just opened up this whole platform for us, which is how we got to exactly what Marianne said.
- [17:57]
John Evans
So you came up with this insight. What was the strategy then that you developed off the back of that for the new campaign?
- [18:03]
Marianne
Well, you know when you're leveling up a trip to an occasion, right. It's very different on the Escalade, which was the first vehicle that we were launching on, because the Escalade in and of itself is a brand, right. It comes with a lot talk about occasion. It is like the proof. So what was so amazing about this opportunity was the EV and obviously all of the design and the incredible things that are different about this product. We had this platform that we could then shine a light on. It was just a marriage made in heaven. That the very first vehicle we were going to talk about was the brand new Escalade iq.
- [18:43]
Melissa Grady Diaz
And then we quickly followed it up. It's very interesting. Escalade IQ and Optic, which is the entry level EV that we have, which is also just an absolutely incredible car. So it's like it just, it works that no matter which Cadillac you're talking about. And of course there's the Celestic, which is hand built one of one all the way through to the Optic. It doesn't matter. You get into the vehicle and it's suddenly an occasion. It's suddenly this moment. It becomes a thing. Now it's a thing. We're going to take the Cadillac.
- [19:14]
John Evans
Where did that. Cause that's now the platform you've created, isn't it? That's the idea for the new campaign. When did that appear as an idea? How did you come up with that?
- [19:22]
Marianne
Oh my gosh. I would say it was probably like round three. We were in a pitch process where we were really trying to break the platform, figure out what is the platform. And Matt Jarvis and John Boiler, who are two of the founders 72 and Sunny Matt Jarvis told this amazing story about being out at John Boiler's house in Palm Desert and in Palm Springs and they were, he has an old convertible 50s Cadillac and they were getting ready to go out for a team dinner. And I'll never forget Jarvis just turning around. He goes, I just, I remember it clear as day. Day. John just walked out and was like, let's take the Cadillac. And we all just had this moment right there and then like that special thing. It was about taking the Cadillac together. It was about everyone getting there and whether or not you're telling the stories about your success and building your company and all of you know you've gotten to this level of achievement. So you're buying yourself a Cadillac. It's the fact that you want to take that Cadillac with your wife, with your family, with your girlfriends and go out and do something special and to literally make a drive to the grocery store special because you're going to take your Cadillac. That's where we were just like, oh yeah. That is. When we talk about the emotion of the brand, the modernity of the brand, that today's world is about experience and then just the experience of these cars in and of itself. We just found this beautiful sweet spot.
- [20:59]
John Evans
Yeah, you're very good at finding the emotion. A lot of the work you guys do really uncovers the emotion behind the brand, isn't it? In a very special way?
- [21:07]
Marianne
Well, when we started, really, you know, we were all talking to each other but what we were talking about is what our consumers were telling us. Our job is to do the listening. So we were out talking to, to our potential consumers and listening to them talk about how they like to spend their time and what, what, why they're working this hard. And it was so amazing. You would even have 28 year old success stories. I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for we. Like, I, I don't work this hard for myself. I work this hard because I want to be able to share it with everybody. And that is why I do it.
- [21:43]
John Evans
So what goes into like car launch feels like a pretty big deal, right? And a lot goes into it. Kind of describe what happens in a, when you, when you launch a new car.
- [21:53]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Oh gosh. It starts so much before the car's going to launch. Years before automotive is so fascinating. And so we start very early on, I mean years before a car launch. Just to quickly go through that. You have concepts, you have ideas, these ideas will morph into different shapes. What's the haunch of the car, what do the headlights look like, et cetera? Cadillac is one of those. I love the design that we have. We have the vertical headlights. And I always say, if. If you're driving at night and you see that Cadillac coming up behind you, there is just no question. And so all of that early design work goes in and then we do testing and we talk to people, we understand trends, and then you fast forward to now the car is going to come into market and, you know, starting probably about a year before we start to look at. Here's the cadence of everything. And a car launch also is not a moment. You start to get cars on the ground and they build up. So we start to look at what's that reveal moment and what are we doing in the reveal moment? What are we going to do between the reveal and when you can start ordering them? Because you can order them before they're. And then what are we going to do when they're all on the ground? And so there's a whole strategy and different moments that we build. And then we get to. As you look at like Escalade IQ or Optic, which launched right next to each other, then what is that actual tv, social, digital out of home. What is all that going to look like? And then once it's going and the dealers are selling it, how are we going to make those assets adaptable for the dealers to make sure that whatever's going on in their market, they can be ready?
- [23:41]
John Evans
So let's take the Cadillac being the kind of campaign idea, how does that show up in different ways? There's obviously the. The TV film itself, but what other ways does that appear?
- [23:50]
Melissa Grady Diaz
What's very interesting and fun is that it's very flexible. And so I think, you know, you'll start to see it peeking through in different digital video, et cetera. I think when you. If you want to look at how flexible is this platform, and it was such a moment when they nailed it. We went through a lot of different iterations of digital out of home. You know, here's the. When we were in the early concepting phase, and as you know, Cadillac, as you may or may not know, Cadillac is very big in racing. So we're in IMSA and WEC now and obviously moving into F1. And at the end of all the concepts, there was this sort of like Easter egg shot of in the pit, a giant billboard with what the V series R vehicle. And it said, let's take the Cadillac. And so this really is just something that can. It can go anywhere.
- [24:46]
John Evans
That's amazing.
- [24:47]
Marianne
Whether you're talking about racing or a digital ad or. I. I think one of the most amazing things is when you launch it on a car like the Escalade, everybody's talking about the fact that they got an Escalade. So whether it's Shaq or whoever, you know, they're getting their cars and they're talking about these pop. It's like the perfect storytelling of let's take the Cadillac over.
- [25:06]
John Evans
That must be a key part of it is not just the car, but who's seen in the car. You know, that must be a big part of the. You know, building the reputation around the car as well.
- [25:15]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yeah, it's an interesting thing. So, you know, if you look at something like Celestiq, for instance, we won't really talk about the process of the people because it's a very private thing. And we see that, too, with those who drive. And, you know, when we look at influencers or celebrities or whatever, we're always trying to respect people's privacy. But then we also love to know who wants to talk with us, who wants to be part of our story. So that's how we approach the celebrity angle of it.
- [25:44]
John Evans
Now, you guys. You guys have recently. You've just recently started working. This is the first campaign. What's it been like working together? And how do you kind of get the most out of the relationship? I guess an iconic brand on the one side and one of the best creative agencies on the other.
- [25:57]
Melissa Grady Diaz
They bring the energy every step of the way and the positivity, and it's contagious. It's been really great to work together. So I think we've been in this learning phase of, you know, we. Like, if you were dating and then you just jumped in, and it's been very collaborative. She has talked a lot about listening. I think we both listen a lot, and we probably all listen more than we talk, and we're all thinkers, too, so we'll talk, and then we come back, and then we talk again. And that's. I think one of the things that's been so great for me is how things move forward. And if you talked about, you know, as we were going through it, being the third round, and it was like, okay, this is what I heard. Then we're like, this is what I heard. And I think that's been one of the really beautiful things about the relationship.
- [26:48]
Marianne
We call it a learning mindset. At 72 and 70, we're always in one. One of the things when you're. When you have a new relationship, like, you have to go through the process a couple of times, right. So we've just done our first big one, right. Where you learn a lot. You soup to nuts, even in production and getting cars, like every company, whether you've shot a million cars, every situation is different. And so you learn so much. But I do think 72 and Sunny, we're the kind of agency that likes to roll up our sleeves and get dirty. We want to get in there together. I think there's a lot of agencies that in client relationships, where the client just wants you to bring them the solution, and then they'll take the solution and they'll move it forward in their organization. And I wish there was a way to classify what kind of a client you were, because if you knew, you would find a better partner. So when we have clients who are like, okay, put the shiny box that's perfect on the table, and we'll take it, that's not who we are. The emotion and the impact that you see from our work comes because we do it together. It is not something that we can go and do on our own. So we love to roll up our sleeves and collaborate. And yes, in that is listening and patience and learning and tolerance and all of those things. But the outcome is. Is something so impactful, and it is. You can only do it together.
- [28:13]
John Evans
Yeah. I mean, the other thing that I guess is very common about the car industry is how formulaic advertising is in the industry. I mean, I know when we look at the system, one database of every single category, it's the one where everybody is almost doing the same thing. You know what I mean? It's like. It's like the same corner going around the same corner at the same sunset, the same couple going through the night, you know, kind of nighttime. So how do you kind of challenge yourselves to sort of break out of the industry kind of template?
- [28:41]
Melissa Grady Diaz
I think the biggest thing on that is understanding who the customer is and what we're trying to get them to feel. And I think the formula makes people at a certain stage in the buying process feel a certain thing. And I hope that with what we're doing now, by tapping into something bigger, it changes. It just changes the way that it looks and feels. I think, you know, even as Cadillac, we really try to bring. Music is so important. Music is so important to us. And color and boldness.
- [29:18]
John Evans
Well, I've got to say, the sound system in the Escalade is pretty damn impressive as well for Anyone listening that wants to get into that is the best sound system I've ever heard. So, you know, there's a slight aside.
- [29:27]
Marianne
There, but Dolby Atmos.
- [29:29]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Amazing.
- [29:29]
Marianne
It's amazing. It's amazing experiences. You get a chance to go to a Dolby Atmos theater do. I mean, these are like. It is a full physical experience, which is also part of let's Take the Cadillac. Right. It is a full physical experience. And in. It is just. There's a lot of romance in this brand. And I think we. When we're. When we're storytelling and you know, in a category where everything is the same same how we might interact with a feature is very much between the person and the feature, not just the feature, you know. And so there's a lot. There's a dynamic in a storytelling mechanism that really deepens what we're talking about in creating the occasion. And hopefully that will get greater and clearer and stand out more and more as our ads are out there.
- [30:19]
John Evans
Well, it's so easy to get drawn, particularly in cars, and it get drawn to the rational benefits like the. The charge or the speed or the convenience, whatever. But as you've described very well, so much of it is about the emotion of the people you're with, the occasion you're on, the nostalgia of the car and the, you know, you know, all those kind of things become much more important than how many doors and how far it goes.
- [30:41]
Marianne
Yeah. And the beauty of having so many different channels is you can get all those messages in the right place and have people feeling in the right place too. And inspired.
- [30:49]
John Evans
I think one of the breakthrough moments for me when I was thinking about car advertising was that I think VW back in the 80s discovered that most people think about their car choice in between buying cars, don't they? And actually the dealership was. Because they'd throw all their money in the dealership going, we must convince people to buy in the dealership. But most people that walk in already know kind of what they want to buy. Is that still true as a hundred percent.
- [31:12]
Melissa Grady Diaz
So there's a few different stats, but they're basically all the same. You are always sort of like most people are always shopping for a house, you're always shopping for a car. Right. And we've looked at it when people get in market. So where you're getting into that, I'm going to. I know I'm going to buy a car soon. They have somewhere between two and four vehicles on their list already. So if you're not in one of those two to four, what we found is 70 to 80% of the time they buy one of those two to four. So if you're not speaking to someone, if you're not driving that emotion, if you're not in that consideration set, you've now got a 20 to 30% chance where you're going to have to fight as they expand that list a little bit. So it's absolutely true and it really is a pillar of how we look at how do we market, how do we make sure that we're getting people to know who our brand is, to feel those emotions so that we're in the consideration space set. And then once they're shopping, how do we make sure that we.
- [32:14]
John Evans
What's the normal gap between like someone buying a new car and buying another one?
- [32:18]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Again, it varies by person, but you know, if you look at average leases, like 36 months or so, like a three year time period is pretty typical.
- [32:26]
John Evans
Yeah. So when you think about that, that's a long gap, isn't it, between, Well, I mean, it's quite a long gap compared to your grocery shop, for example.
- [32:33]
Marianne
Right.
- [32:34]
John Evans
Any tips on. I was thinking in terms of like the role of marketing within a, a big organization like General. Well, General Motors, I suppose, as well as, as well as Cadillac. What, what advice would you give someone in terms of how to lead the marketing agenda?
- [32:46]
Melissa Grady Diaz
You've got to bring the brand voice, but you also have to understand.
- [32:52]
E
The.
- [32:53]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Language and the context of the larger organization. So at the end of the day, as altruistic as any company might be, we're there to make money. And so you have to be able to articulate what the brand is bringing. And then things like, here's how we're converting, here's how we're getting people, here's why this part is important. So the fact that I just told you, we can't just focus on our conversion metrics. We have to also look at how are we getting here, what does the funnel look like, what does that math look like, how many leads? So you have to understand and if you're, again, if you're talking to the cfo, what's the investment going to return? And if you're talking to the sales department, here's how many leads I can get you and here's how much traffic I can get you. So just understanding how to inspire people, I think it's really important to be the inspiration, but at the same time not feel disconnected from the reality of what the business is doing.
- [33:48]
John Evans
So we've been spending Most of the conversation talking about the new Escalade. The launch has just happened. Is that right?
- [33:53]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yes. The Escalade IQ started coming out late last year. We started selling them in November. So it is very new.
- [34:02]
John Evans
And what's the reaction been like to it?
- [34:04]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Absolutely amazing. It's been. It's been hard for people to be able to even get them. It's been wonderful.
- [34:10]
John Evans
Now, I noticed as I arrived here today, there was one parked outside, funnily enough.
- [34:15]
Marianne
Amazing when you know people.
- [34:16]
John Evans
It's funny, isn't it?
- [34:17]
Melissa Grady Diaz
What a coincidence.
- [34:18]
John Evans
Does anyone know anyone? Fantastic. Well, I think we should go and try this, maybe. Should we?
- [34:23]
Melissa Grady Diaz
I think we should go take the Cadillac.
- [34:24]
John Evans
Let's do that.
- [34:25]
Marianne
Let's take the Cadillac.
- [34:27]
F
All right, so here we are. Welcome to the first edition of Cadillac Karaoke with my two very special guests in the back seat. Say hi, guys.
- [34:34]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Hi.
- [34:34]
G
Hi.
- [34:35]
F
But just to test the car out, I just thought I would put some tunes on Google, play my podcast.
- [34:45]
John Evans
There we go.
- [34:46]
F
We're rocking and rolling, ladies and gentlemen. Let's go.
- [34:50]
G
Let's take the Cadillac.
- [34:53]
F
There we go. Hey, Google pause the podcast. So our first trip out in Cadillac Karaoke. So the obvious question is, what's your track gonna be? What do you think, Melissa?
- [35:05]
E
My favorite song is Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. I love a good remix of it, but that's my favorite song.
- [35:12]
John Evans
Nice.
- [35:13]
F
Marianne, where are you taking us?
- [35:15]
G
Oh, my gosh. Well, my favorite band is the national, and I'm having a total blank on the name of the song.
- [35:26]
E
Play my favorite song, Dreams on Spotify.
- [35:31]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Okay.
- [35:32]
E
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac playing on Spotify.
- [35:39]
F
That is exterior, isn't it?
- [35:41]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Wow.
- [35:42]
F
The bass, I like it. Beautiful.
- [35:47]
John Evans
Yeah.
- [35:48]
F
Turn it up.
- [35:49]
E
Surrounding you.
- [35:50]
F
There are, aren't there? It's coming from everywhere. It is coming from everywhere.
- [35:54]
E
36 speakers.
- [35:56]
F
You can tell that's a stereo, can't you? That's good. Can we just do this for the afternoon?
- [36:04]
G
This is how to do New York right here.
- [36:06]
F
This isn't it. Actually, that. Interestingly, that's what I found. Oh. Show game.
- [36:15]
E
Pause.
- [36:16]
F
So we're riding in the new Escalade iq. What's the coolest feature about this, do you reckon?
- [36:20]
E
Oh, I can't pick one. I can't pick one. I think you're looking at that pillar to pillar screen right in front of you. That is definitely one of my favorite features. The other favorite feature that I have on this vehicle is when you can't see which is the range. 460 miles. And we can often eke out a.
- [36:41]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Little more than that.
- [36:42]
F
Now, put that into context. We were trying to work out how far we could go in one trip. We could get to. We're in New York now, aren't we? We get to Montreal on a charge.
- [36:50]
E
And we still have about 100 miles range.
- [36:52]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yeah.
- [36:52]
G
We would not be panicked to get.
- [36:54]
Marianne
It on a charge.
- [36:55]
G
Yes.
- [36:55]
John Evans
That is incredible.
- [36:56]
F
Boston and back. Comfortably.
- [36:57]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Comfortably easy.
- [36:59]
E
It's very interesting because your mindset changes, and I've watched myself go through this from figuring out the range, Right. And you think in those terms, and how much gas do I need to. I go home and I plug in my car, which is much like plugging in my phone at night, and I don't think about it, and I'm just always ready to leave the country if I need to, apparently within a full charge.
- [37:24]
G
The thing for me is that the two things that stand out about this car are, one, the performance. Like, when you start talking about EVs, you go right to range and all of these very kind of practical things. But this is a performance vehicle. It is just. It is fast. You get in, you press the gas, it feels good. And then the other side is just the luxury side. This car has everything. I mean, I get in it, and I am like, oh, my God, I'm home. It feels good. It is not an iPhone on wheels. It's the exact opposite. It has everything at your fingertips. It feels good. It is thought through, everything you would.
- [38:05]
Marianne
Possibly do in this car, and it.
- [38:06]
G
Just changes the experience so far beyond worrying about range.
- [38:11]
E
And what's interesting, a lot of times you are in the back seat in an Escalade. With this vehicle, I'm usually the driver sitting in the back seat. This panoramic roof. Oh, I just want to lay back and watch this guy.
- [38:25]
G
Spectacular.
- [38:26]
E
I wish it was a starry night.
- [38:28]
F
That's a really good point, actually, because in most cars, the back seat is not as good as being in the front seat. Right. And whereas in this car, the back seat is every bit as good as the front seat. In fact, you feel more like you're being chauffeured around.
- [38:39]
E
Absolutely.
- [38:40]
F
So how much the thinking with this car was about bringing the luxury element, because when you think of EVs, you think of very modern cars like Tesla. But there's a lot of luxury built into this experience, isn't there?
- [38:51]
Melissa Grady Diaz
100%.
- [38:52]
E
You know, as Cadillac looks at EVs, it's all about making the best vehicles that happen to be EVs. And that's what you're experiencing when you look at the stitching or the comfort or the details as well as the technology with the pillar to pillar screen, with our hands free driving, which has been noted as being some of the best in class and all the features that come with this vehicle that make it absolutely incredible with class leading, actually ev, SUV leading range.
- [39:30]
F
So Melissa, do you get to choose your car as the CMO of Cadillac? This must be a big perk of the job, right?
- [39:36]
E
It's a very big perk of the job and I love it.
- [39:39]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yes.
- [39:39]
E
So I do get to choose my vehicle. I have two at any one time and then I also rotate through to make sure that, you know, you have to understand the products. And with a product that I love and I'm so passionate about, it's a pretty easy task.
- [39:55]
F
It's a tough job, right?
- [39:56]
E
It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. I'm going to raise my hand.
- [40:00]
F
Marianne, when you were kind of in development for the ideas for communications, you get to spend some time with the cars.
- [40:05]
G
We did and it was one of the best days of my career, I can tell you that much. But it was the first time the entire team had gone to Detroit and they had a really special day where all of the agencies were there for all of the brands and they brought out cars from every single brand. So we got to see the iq, we got to see the Hummer. We drove a Chevy. I mean we drove all the cars.
- [40:30]
Marianne
And they lined them up in a.
- [40:31]
G
Parking lot and it literally was like.
- [40:33]
Marianne
Kids on a playground.
- [40:34]
G
They just let us go from car.
- [40:36]
Marianne
To car to car to car.
- [40:38]
G
And with out a doubt I. Melissa's heard me say this already. I was so blown away by the Ike, the Escalade, IQ and the Celestic. The Celestic just had me at hello. It was the most beautiful.
- [40:52]
F
I was looking this up on the website. This looks like a bit of the future and a bit of the past. It's quite beautiful looking, isn't it?
- [40:59]
John Evans
And. And not cheap.
- [41:02]
Melissa Grady Diaz
It is not.
- [41:03]
E
It's not cheap.
- [41:03]
F
I'm just putting it out. There it is.
- [41:05]
E
It's hand built, that vehicle. Each one is hand built and each one is one of one. So when someone decides that they want to order one, they come in. We have a place called Cadillac House. It's beautiful. They sit with our designers and can bring inspiration from the color of the flowers in the first bouquet from their husband all the way to. You know, we talk about the wood in the middle can be from a tree in your yard that you planted at some point. There's every little detail, every little bit of the vehicle is completely customizable and it's, it's incredible.
- [41:41]
F
This might be the moment to pitch my podcast sponsorship idea.
- [41:47]
Marianne
You're going to do it in Detroit.
- [41:48]
F
We could tell you uncensored. Yellow leather, black outside. The speakers are amazing. We'll put some nice microphones all around the car. We can do every episode just putting out there, right in case you need a media partner.
- [42:03]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Also has a big panoramic roof, but.
- [42:05]
E
It'S got quad zone, so you can change the opacity and the color. So if you're feeling blue today and I'm feeling red today and you want.
- [42:17]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Your yellow, we could change them.
- [42:19]
John Evans
That could be arranged.
- [42:20]
E
Bathed in our glowing light.
- [42:22]
John Evans
Wow.
- [42:23]
F
So have you got a long waiting list for these super exclusive cars now?
- [42:26]
Melissa Grady Diaz
They.
- [42:27]
E
Yes, there is.
- [42:28]
Melissa Grady Diaz
And we, we sit with each person.
- [42:30]
E
And it's not a production because it's hand built.
- [42:33]
Melissa Grady Diaz
So we, there's, there's, you know, usually.
- [42:36]
E
We'Re looking at production schedules, etc.
- [42:38]
Melissa Grady Diaz
And this is. Well, for this person, we're going to do this and then this.
- [42:42]
E
It's a pretty fun thing to work on one day.
- [42:46]
Marianne
We would be driving you to Detroit right now.
- [42:48]
John Evans
Well, this, the range is enough.
- [42:50]
F
I'm just saying. We have the range.
- [42:53]
G
We have.
- [42:54]
F
Well, that's been fun. Right, on with the show.
- [42:57]
John Evans
Well, there we go. So we've just taken a ride in the new Escalade iq. That was pretty cool. How was it for you every time?
- [43:02]
Melissa Grady Diaz
I love it. But how about you, your first time?
- [43:05]
John Evans
Did you feel that sensitivity, the electric opening doors? Pretty damn cool that. Because I hadn't thought about. You know, you want to make an entrance, don't you? And get. Well, you have to get up into it as well, which it's quite high up, isn't it? And those wheels, man, they're, they're impressive. But I think my overriding impressions just how smooth and comfortable and quiet. Yeah, very quiet. And super luxury as well. And I think the stereotype of electric cars is kind of like, it's a bit like a mobile iPhone, isn't it? You're in a sort of a minimalist sort of bubble. But this felt super luxury, like kind of a Maybach kind of experience or something with all the.
- [43:40]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Like a Cadillac kind of experience.
- [43:42]
John Evans
Exactly.
- [43:43]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Because we just make amazing vehicles that happen to either be electric or gas powered.
- [43:50]
Marianne
It is like a dream riding in that backseat. I mean, it was Melissa's song. But on top of the fact that it was her song. When you are looking out that roof up at the sky, I mean, driving through New York City, that in and of itself, like when we talk about the romance, the dreaming, the sense of occasion, but just sitting in that car and touching one button and the seat's warm and a rainy day, like, it is just homey and it's just. I fall in love with it every time I get there.
- [44:20]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Every single time.
- [44:21]
John Evans
Thank you both. It's been an amazing privilege. And thanks for the ride as well this afternoon. It was great.
- [44:26]
Melissa Grady Diaz
Yeah, of course. Thanks so much. It's been great. It's been really wonderful.
- [44:30]
Marianne
Cadillac karaoke. What a great ride.
- [44:32]
John Evans
I know. This could be a thing, right?
- [44:33]
Marianne
I think we should start it with that sound system.
- [44:36]
John Evans
Yeah.
- [44:37]
Marianne
Thank you so much, Jonathan.
- [44:38]
F
Cool. Thank you.
- [44:39]
John Evans
Thank you very much for listening or watching Uncensored cmo. I hope you enjoyed that. If you did, please do hit the subscribe button wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching, hit subscribe there as well. I'd also love to get a review. Reviews make a big difference on other people discovering the show. So please do leave a review wherever you get your podcast. If you want to contact me, you can do. I'm over on X at UncensoredCMO or on LinkedIn where I'm under my own name, John Evans. Thanks for listening and watching. I'll see you next time.