In exchange for an extra $17 billion from taxpayers — on top of the $13 billion it had gotten since December — G.M. said it would reduce costs by shuttering plants, cutting brands and slashing 47,000 jobs, about a fifth of its remaining work force.
General Motors, for example, is cutting its brand lineup to four: Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Buick.
Ms. Burch's response also included its own barbs, at one point responding to a minor descriptive boast in Mr. Burch's case by writing: "Defendants deny that C. Wonder is a cutting edge brand.
"If you want to be a cutting edge brand, it is not enough to just do cool stuff," says Aziz. "You need to think about the community you want to be a part of and how your actions are not only positive for the brand but for the consumer and community".
But by the end of the day, Google Home's successful Super Bowl LI ad had aired, diverting AI assistant searches away from Amazon Echo, cutting the brand's statistics to just 54% and 19%, respectively.
We've seen CPG leaders cutting smaller brands and not seeking out new brands as they instead focus their efforts on a small number of core brands.
Just before Christmas, House Republicans were forced to make humiliating concessions to Democrats over the extension of a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits, dinging the party's tax-cutting brand.
Once G.M. has finished cutting jobs, brands and models, it could fall behind Ford in terms of sales.
Mr. Kresa said the resignations were not forced, and some of the directors were "anxious" to leave G.M. Mr. Whitacre is expected to be a strong advocate for changing the corporate culture and direction of G.M., which is sharply cutting its brands, models and work force in the bankruptcy process.
He is obsessed, above all, with "transparency," a buzzword that has been embraced by other cost-cutting brands like Warby Parker and Everlane, whose first New York brick-and-mortar store is next door to Deciem's, in Nolita.
Forbes magazine recently published an excellent summary of how hotel employees in the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton chains are given a high degree of autonomy to just do what the customer needs - cutting out the brand guidelines and trusting the employee to always make the hotel look good or helpful.
