Ram News: Ram Admits Name Change Could Take A “Generation” To Resonate

[William Maley]

By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

February 11, 2013

When Ram aired its "So God Made a Farmer" ad during the super bowl, it resonated with many people. Unfortunately for Ram, most would say it was the Dodge Ram ad, not the Ram ad. Even worse was certain media outlets calling it the Dodge Ram ad.

"Does it bother me? A little bit. Does it really annoy me? A little bit. When you realize how long our trucks have been Dodge Ram trucks, you can't expect the whole world (to figure it out.) Look how long it took journalists — and we still have journalists that still call it Dodge Ram,” said Ram CEO Fred Diaz.

Diaz admits that the rebranding could take a very long time for Ram to fully resonate with people, up to a "generation".

"I think it's going to take an entirely new generation of people to be born and grow up with the Ram-only moniker before most of the world starts calling it Ram," Diaz said.

Diaz says Chrysler will be sticking with the decision of rebranding Ram.

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[G. David Felt]

Duh!!! Ram is great, but too many people will not be able to switch over that fast to just RAM!

They will have to have some mighty funny / entertaining commercials for people to realize it is just Ram.

Ram it and see how the power works for you!!!

[Drew Dowdell]

and all Oldsmobile did was change the logo....

[GMTruckGuy74]

I think calling the pickups RAM 1500, RAM 2500, and RAM 3500 was not a good decision. There should have been a name used for the pickups. Imagine if Chevy just called their pickups 1500/2500/3500? Doesn't resonate too well, now does it? The Durango should have been part of the RAM brand and could have started the model name game for RAM - RAM Durango. Numbers should never be used solely for model names, consumers resonate more with a name.

and all Oldsmobile did was change the logo....

They did more than just change the logo... they replaced all of the classic nameplates to woo new (i.e. younger) consumers to the brand.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think calling the pickups RAM 1500, RAM 2500, and RAM 3500 was not a good decision. There should have been a name used for the pickups. Imagine if Chevy just called their pickups 1500/2500/3500? Doesn't resonate too well, now does it? The Durango should have been part of the RAM brand and could have started the model name game for RAM - RAM Durango. Numbers should never be used solely for model names, consumers resonate more with a name.

and all Oldsmobile did was change the logo....

They did more than just change the logo... they replaced all of the classic nameplates to woo new (i.e. younger) consumers to the brand.

that happened after the logo change. When the logo was changed, there was still an 88, Cutlass, Bravada, Silhouette, and Aurora. By the time the Intrigue came about, the writing was already on the wall.

[Robert Hall]

I think calling the pickups RAM 1500, RAM 2500, and RAM 3500 was not a good decision. There should have been a name used for the pickups. Imagine if Chevy just called their pickups 1500/2500/3500? Doesn't resonate too well, now does it? The Durango should have been part of the RAM brand and could have started the model name game for RAM - RAM Durango. Numbers should never be used solely for model names, consumers resonate more with a name.

The Ram name is relatively recent (1980), and Silverado is from around that time.... the trucks were Dodge D100, D200, etc before that...likewise for Chevy which had named trim levels, but they were the Chevy C10, C20, etc.. And Ford doesn't name theirs either---Ford F150, F250, etc.

[balthazar]

...you can't expect the whole world (to figure it out.)

There's nothing tangible to figure out. The so-called 'rebranding' is moronic.

[Robert Hall]

I still think the whole point of this is they wanted to separate Ram so that it can continue if they phase out Dodge...

[Cremazie]

They could have phased out all the Dodge cars and kept the dodge ram!

[ocnblu]

The whole thing stinks. I agree with Moltie.