Random Thoughts Thread

[ccap41]

45 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

I remember a long time ago (over 20 years ago), I was working in an corporate IT cube farm, and my team got recubed--my whole department moved across the floor to a different collection of 20 or so cubicles.  I could box up my personal content in my cube, but couldn't move it, my chair or my computer--those had to be moved by union mover resource units.   Struck me as odd.  

That's just annoying. 

We've moved a handful of times at my current job and we have a moving team(the building is slowly being remodeled floor by floor) but I've never been told not to take things myself. 

I haven't heard of Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, or BMW plants having issues. OHSA is still a thing.

[Robert Hall]

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

That's just annoying. 

We've moved a handful of times at my current job and we have a moving team(the building is slowly being remodeled floor by floor) but I've never been told not to take things myself. 

Where I was was at a Big Fortune 500 corporation that probably had their facilities maintenance and moving outsourced to a unionized shop.  Odd because it was in Colorado which never struck me as a particular union-ey place.

 The next two places I worked after that were tiny---one a startup company and one a consulting firm, under 10 people each, and we moved offices a couple of times at each place and I helped w/ the moves, once hauled a load of servers, computers and monitors in my Jeep a couple miles between offices.. 

[G. David Felt]

46 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

If modern unions are so bad, are the alternatives a lot better?  Especially in certain industries (steel, automotive). . . . .

Now, public sector unions I would argue have serious issues that need to be addressed.  Now why do we have public sector unions again?

Yes, Yes they are, just look at how well the NON-Union Auto plants are doing in this country. Yes companies have learned, does not mean we take our eye off of them, but we do not have kids working, no benefits and all the other crap that happened. Unions had their place but in a higher educated society, unions are not needed and that in itself proves why industries like the High Tech industry has not been unionized. Many others do not need it either. Unions feed off the lesser educated work force taking their hard earned money. We are already protected and covered by modern laws that give us the same rights the Unions want to take your money for saying they will secure.

[G. David Felt]

3 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Where I was was at a Big Fortune 500 corporation that probably had their facilities maintenance and moving outsourced to a unionized shop.  Odd because it was in Colorado which never struck me as a particular union-ey place.

 The next two places I worked after that were tiny---one a startup company and one a consulting firm, under 10 people each, and we moved offices a couple of times at each place and I helped w/ the moves, once hauled a load of servers, computers and monitors in my Jeep a couple miles between offices.. 

Same with me, the startups and small companies we all just pitched in to help move, but here at my current Dell Job, they reorganized the whole building to get teams back together and we were told we could not move any of our stuff once packed up as that was the outside movers job and had to wait for them to come in and move the whole building over the weekend which included a Friday.

I am thinking in this regards it was Dell wanting to minimize potential injury on those not in shape to life.

At Brocade, I was visiting the San Jose HQ and was doing work in the datacenter and we needed to get stuff re-racked, I did it all and then realized we had no power above us in the Star Line system where we were moved too. I grabbed a wrench and moved the star line box's and then got written up by the local facilities folks as in California you have to use a unionized certified electrician to move these 90 degree twist boxes and plug in the power cords from the rack.

Lucky for me, I got the write up removed as the did not know I was from Washington State and did not know about the california requirements since in the data center here we just do all the work ourselves and no requirement to have over paid electricians plug in a server.

That is the stupidity that Unions have brought in this modern 21st century day to slowing down productivity.

[daves87rs]

Doesn’t matter, unions will be dead in the next five years anyways....

You can’t make a profit with a union ......or at least a bigger one.

Automation is coming, and very, very soon......

[riviera74]

8 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Doesn’t matter, unions will be dead in the next five years anyways....

You can’t make a profit with a union ......or at least a bigger one.

Automation is coming, and very, very soon......

Who will buy anything if there are no jobs?

[G. David Felt]

Leg day at the gym today. In the last 1hr, I have seen 2 mbps, 1 bmw, 1 audi and 2 Lexus and 1 ford ad.

Where is Cadillac, GMC, Buick or Chevrolet?

Where is Lincoln or any others for that matter. Clearly the marketing campaigns are not working at many places.

Never see a fiat ad.

Just saw a dump n pump ad for Nissan that just came on.

Interesting, now we know why some brands do better than others. Failure of marketing.

[balthazar]

Pffft- you don’t think every car brand advertises on every channel, every day, do you?

[ccap41]

41 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Leg day at the gym today. In the last 1hr, I have seen 2 mbps, 1 bmw, 1 audi and 2 Lexus and 1 ford ad.

Where is Cadillac, GMC, Buick or Chevrolet?

Where is Lincoln or any others for that matter. Clearly the marketing campaigns are not working at many places.

Never see a fiat ad.

Just saw a dump n pump ad for Nissan that just came on.

Interesting, now we know why some brands do better than others. Failure of marketing.

It all depends what you're watching.

I was also at the gym last night and somebody had like CBS or NBC on the TV in front of me(unfortunately, because I wanted to watch the Blues game) and there was a new Lincoln Corsair commercial and I have certainly seen GMC ads in the past week but I don't know what channel or show I was watching(the one with the fancy Sierra tailgate). 

Edited February 19, 2020 by ccap41

[balthazar]

I’ve seen the Lincoln ad where Matt is ice fishing in the wilderness probably 8 times, but can’t recall seeing a single GLS ad.

[Robert Hall]

I've seen several Cadillac ads recently...I generally don't watch TV with ads, but I do watch local news and live events (sports and awards shows) occasionally.    Specifically an XT6 ad with Millennials, saw that during the Oscars last week several times.  During the Oscars there was also a nice 2021 Escalade ad w/ Regina King. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Robert Hall

[ccap41]

Cadillac is probably advertising on shows liked "My 600lb Life". ?

[G. David Felt]

10 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Doesn’t matter, unions will be dead in the next five years anyways....

You can’t make a profit with a union ......or at least a bigger one.

Automation is coming, and very, very soon......

I doubt they will be dead, the one area that Unions seem to have a strangle hold on is basic construction of buildings, roads and especially the plumbers, electrician and appliance service industry.

The change is eventually you will find more folks going out on their own as independents giving pricing options that are better than a mega large unionized company. Yet some who will not do their research will still over pay to a union shop.

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Pffft- you don’t think every car brand advertises on every channel, every day, do you?

The 24 hour fitness I go to has 9 TV's up on the wall in front of all the cardio equipment. Only one is on music videos, the other 8 are all on different stations so I felt it was a good spread of seeing what commercials are playing as I looked over them all and people watched warming up.

I did end up seeing an Acura commercial and 2 Toyota commercials on when I was leaving.

I still did not see any GM ads. Very weird.

41 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Cadillac is probably advertising on shows liked "My 600lb Life". ?

That's cause the Trust Fund 600lb Millennial's need the Escalade to move their Butt around.  ?

[balthazar]

I disagree that 8 channels is necessarily a representation of all media.
Cadillac stat I saw said they're advertising on 250 different media outlets.
How many total are there?

Cadillac is not at a mainstream production volume, like nissan or Chevy or mercedes, and they traditionally have done heavy 'event' ads (sports, award event, etc).

Question- how many Tesla ads did you see at the gym?

Edited February 19, 2020 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

The bigger question is how relevant is TV advertising in the age of streaming, where a lot of content can be consumed ad-free? 

[balthazar]

Agreed- traditional TV has to be losing significant marketshare to other mediums.

[oldshurst442]

In the age of streaming AND internet usage as a whole.  Social media with platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Which lends itself to personalized ads through controversial privacy shenanigans. 

 

 

[G. David Felt]

@Robert Hall @balthazar @oldshurst442 @ccap41 Very valid thought is the loss of traditional TV advertisement with the move to commercial free or limited commercial on streaming platforms. 

Took a bit of time this morning to Look around my Roku box as well as the firestick my daughter has that I borrowed and our family account of YouTube TV where they have 4 commercial sections of no more than 5 min across any show you watch and it is very interesting the change in commercials. 

Still did not see any Cadillac commercials. Last one I saw was while watching the superbowl and I felt it did not have any impact to me. Was MEH......

I did see a variety of auto ads on the Rocku, Firestick and YouTube TV but nothing for Tesla or Cadillac, but did see a GMC ad focused on their trucks and a Chevy ad focused on their CUVs.

I think marketing is going through a big change with the attempt to keep happy the baby boomers while the rest have already changed due to technology.

Interesting times we live in friends, interesting times.

Funny stuff, but custom wraps on Auto's is such a big thing now and I had to laugh at these 50 as I see stuff like this all the time now on company and private auto's.

https://yeahmotor.com/cars/custom-car-wraps/

Enjoy!

[balthazar]

I saw the Cadillac 'running' ad yesterday on TV. Seen that one at least 4 times and it just came out.

- - - - -
 

Edited February 19, 2020 by balthazar

[G. David Felt]

25 minutes ago, balthazar said:

I saw the Cadillac 'running' ad yesterday on TV. Seen that one at least 4 times and it just came out.

- - - - -
 

Is it on Youtube at all as I would like to know which it is to see what it is like.

[balthazar]

This is the 30 sec version Ive been seeing; theres a longer 1 min version too

 

Theres also the one from a bit ago where someone is peeling the vinyl wrap camo off a CT5.

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

This is the 30 sec version Ive been seeing; theres a longer 1 min version too

 

Theres also the one from a bit ago where someone is peeling the vinyl wrap camo off a CT5.

Thank you for posting, very interesting.

SAD, Have to say that is a YAWN of a commercial. I am not inspired by it. Sounds and Feels very mechanical and forced. No passion for the performance luxury auto at all in the voice they use. The commercial just leaves me wanting. 

Sad ?

[Robert Hall]

How about this XT6 ad with a diverse group of Millennial hipsters...

(struck me as funny since the XT6 is a 3 row soccer mom family hauler type of CUV).

 

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Robert Hall

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

SAD, Have to say that is a YAWN of a commercial. I am not inspired by it.

Just saw it again on Hulu watching the Container Home show.

NO car commercials “inspire” me, I am largely numb to advertising influence and I’ve seen it all / its all been done before.

 

32 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

How about this XT6 ad with a diverse group of Millennial hipsters... (struck me as funny since the XT6 is a 3 row soccer mom family hauler type of CUV).

That’s just your strict association with 3-row CUVs tho. Anytime 6 or so want to travel in one vehicle, what are they supposed to do; hire a stretch limo?

[G. David Felt]

55 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

How about this XT6 ad with a diverse group of Millennial hipsters...

(struck me as funny since the XT6 is a 3 row soccer mom family hauler type of CUV).

 

 

Much better, but still not inspired, the female voice is so flat and unexcited. It is as if they have a person who loves Lexus trying to sell Cadillac.

WHERE IS THE PASSION?

That is missing from both of these commercials. I remember the commercial that had and projected true emotion of I want to check out that auto.

Recardo Montalbon.

There are others, but we need people who can project passion and sell the auto even if you do not care for the auto. This has always stuck in my mind as he did an outstanding job of selling the auto with passion.

[Robert Hall]

29 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Just saw it again on Hulu watching the Container Home show.

NO car commercials “inspire” me, I am largely numb to advertising influence and I’ve seen it all / its all been done before. 

I'm jaded and cynical, world-weary and worn down from decades in the corporate IT game.   I don't think *any* ad has 'inspired' me in maybe 25 years..   There are some I can appreciate occasionally, though.  Like the Jeeps in the mountains on snowy trails ads...always like those. 

[balthazar]

6 minutes ago, dfelt said:

WHERE IS THE PASSION?

There are others, but we need people who can project passion and sell the auto even if you do not care for the auto. This has always stuck in my mind as he did an outstanding job of selling the auto with passion.

I think that's your individual interpretation, not any projection from the ads themselves.
Frankly, whenever I see a successful actor hawking a product, I automatically question whether they're in fact a consumer. And when it seems they're 'stepping down' in product, the whole thing becomes a farce.
Anonymous individuals work better IMO.

[oldshurst442]

Late 1980s and 1990s beer commercials always inspired me. But then again, I was of that certain age when partying and skirt chasin' was in my almost daily itinerary.

However, every beer bottle I ever opened up, I never seemed to be transported immediately to a BBQ pool party with bikini clad girls partying around me.   Methinks I got hosed...  

 

[G. David Felt]

6 hours ago, balthazar said:

I think that's your individual interpretation, not any projection from the ads themselves.
Frankly, whenever I see a successful actor hawking a product, I automatically question whether they're in fact a consumer. And when it seems they're 'stepping down' in product, the whole thing becomes a farce.
Anonymous individuals work better IMO.

YEA, Those Chevrolet ads with anonymous people talking about their surprise at the Chevy products did NOT inspire me. It was too canned and staged for me.

[daves87rs]

6 minutes ago, dfelt said:

YEA, Those Chevrolet ads with anonymous people talking about their surprise at the Chevy products did NOT inspire me. It was too canned and staged for me.

I still laugh when i see those....so fake.....

16 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Who will buy anything if there are no jobs?

Guys working on Wall Street maybe?

Sure there will be plenty of Walmart types of jobs... ? 

[balthazar]

A paid actor/spokesperson is no more believable than a 'real person'. They're just paid more to say lines a bit better. But that in & of itself, is more staged than 'real people'.

The Chevy Real people ads have been slammed by many. I guess those detractors don't recognize just how many other industries, like medical or legal for example, also use that same selling approach, and have for decades upon decades. And many actors have pedaled autos; Spenser Tracy used to hawk DeSotos. Did/does it move the needle? Is there any possibly way to gauge if either approach is specifically successful? Nope.

Yes; the Real people ads aren't as polished, but are you buying 'polish' or are you buying recommendations?

[ccap41]

They're slammed because they're garbage. 

Show off the vehicle not fake-ass reactions. 

[balthazar]

Then every ad with either/or a speaking actor or a voice-over is likewise ‘fake-ass’, no? How are clinic/ reactions more fake than reading a script provided to someone?
 

I admit I do not like the ‘MC’ of the Real People ads...

Edited February 20, 2020 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

23 minutes ago, balthazar said:

 

I admit I do not like the ‘MC’ of the Real People ads...

Yeah, that was that guy that was in that show..or maybe he just looks like him...

Edited February 20, 2020 by Robert Hall

[ccap41]

Auto commercials are the easiest commercials to make and GM puts out this "real people" trash. 

Truck, show a video of it doing truck things with music.

sports sedan, show a video of it hustling on back roads or a track with music.

SUV, filling up with people and bags with music.

Than there's GM's garbage. 

Let's show a sports sedan losing a race to a man on foot.

"real people" thinking a Malibu looks like a BMW.. ?

 

59 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Then every ad with either/or a speaking actor or a voice-over is likewise ‘fake-ass’, no? How are clinic/ reactions more fake than reading a script provided to someone?
 

I admit I do not like the ‘MC’ of the Real People ads...

I get you're a GM-guy, but you're the only person I've ever heard even remotely try and defend that crap and you're far from the only person I know who loves GM. 

They're just so poorly executed and exaggerated. It's like they chose the 6 stupidest "real people" for each commercial. *gasp* after *gasp*.

[Robert Hall]

The real people ad reminds me of a tv ad I saw for the Yugo 30+ years ago...showed a young couple driving a Yugo talking about how 'sporty' it was, etc...'real' people type style.

Edited February 20, 2020 by Robert Hall

[riviera74]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

Auto commercials are the easiest commercials to make and GM puts out this "real people" trash. 

Truck, show a video of it doing truck things with music.

sports sedan, show a video of it hustling on back roads or a track with music.

SUV, filling up with people and bags with music.

Than there's GM's garbage. 

Let's show a sports sedan losing a race to a man on foot.

"real people" thinking a Malibu looks like a BMW.. ?

 

I get you're a GM-guy, but you're the only person I've ever heard even remotely try and defend that crap and you're far from the only person I know who loves GM. 

They're just so poorly executed and exaggerated. It's like they chose the 6 stupidest "real people" for each commercial. *gasp* after *gasp*.

Then GM should hire a different ad agency for their brands.  Any suggestions?

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

The real people ad reminds me of a tv ad I saw for the Yugo 30+ years ago...showed a young couple driving a Yugo talking about how 'sporty' it was, etc...'real' people type style.

You Said Yugo and Sporty in the same sentence. ?

[ccap41]

41 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Then GM should hire a different ad agency for their brands.  Any suggestions?

They can ask any company like Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Lincoln, Porsche, Audi, Lexus, Honda, Toyota, Land Rover... 

[Robert Hall]

4 minutes ago, dfelt said:

You Said Yugo and Sporty in the same sentence. ?

Yeah, it was in one of their tv ads from the late 80s...unless I'm misremembering...

[G. David Felt]

Seems Mercedes Benz is hurting more than people have been led to believe. According to this news story: https://www.autonews.com/executives/daimler-retools-management-mercedes-benz-van-units

Daimler CEO is flattening mgmt. lines of communication to get things done faster and more efficient. Their struggling Van division will be led by the CEO as he has shown the door to the leadership team as Diamler looks for ways to turn around their van sales around the world. Daimler CFO will take over the MB CFO position while retaining the Daimler CFO position to review and improve their financial standings.

All Projects will be reviewed as MB moves to become a Leading EV auto company. As such, there is a good chance that power trains, trim lines, models etc. could be retired / cut to stream line the company to optimize profits.

Is this the beginning of a reduction in model types, model variations? Could Be.

[Robert Hall]

Speaking of vans, the blue Amazon Prime delivery vans around here tend to be Rams or Ford Transits...but I did spot a Mercedes badged newest generation Sprinter in my driveway this morning...

Edited February 20, 2020 by Robert Hall

[G. David Felt]

21 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Speaking of vans, the blue Amazon Prime delivery vans around here tend to be Ford Transits...but I did spot a Mercedes badged newest generation Sprinter in my driveway this morning...

Have not seen any sprinters here yet, they all seem to be the Ram Vans. Have not seen a Ford either for Amazon Prime.

[Robert Hall]

About 10 min ago got another Amazon Prime delivery, this time it was a Ram.   Just realized I haven't seen a Freightliner-branded Sprinter in any use in years...but apparently they still sell them.

[G. David Felt]

Who knew, the Prowler was originally built using a Wrangler body for testing the mule. Called the Prangler.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31826/that-should-fit-how-chryslers-legendary-jeep-wrangler-plymouth-prowler-test-car-came-to-be

[surreal1272]

Nothing like snow in the south to make me miss the desert lol. 

9 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Have not seen any sprinters here yet, they all seem to be the Ram Vans. Have not seen a Ford either for Amazon Prime.

They use both here but mostly Fords. 

[G. David Felt]

1 minute ago, surreal1272 said:

Nothing like snow in the south to make me miss the desert lol. 

Awesome, I love Snow!  

Interesting news, seems the Germans are about to have a major upheaval in the auto industry assembly work as of the 830,000 jobs, they said the conversion to global EV auto's which require much less assembly line jobs will affect the stable middle income career path that many have enjoyed for years. At least 10% reduction in jobs is expected over the next 10 years and then even heavier job cuts after that. Seems the Unionized jobs are going to take a hit as Germany will have to deal with a reduced need in factory space and 

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/32260/the-danger-is-growing-for-germanys-auto-industry

[trinacriabob]

Say a person is interested in regular passenger cars, including sports cars, and NOT crossovers,  SUVs, and trucks, what might be on the exhibit floors at the various auto shows this year?  I don't think much.  What else can you think of besides the mid-engine Corvette? 

[balthazar]

3 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

About 10 min ago got another Amazon Prime delivery, this time it was a Ram.   Just realized I haven't seen a Freightliner-branded Sprinter in any use in years...but apparently they still sell them.

Mercedes owned the Euro van segment in the U.S..

Then the US brands entered product and now mercedes Commercial --still trying to push a price premium for a cargo box-- is hemorrhaging market share. Ford has killed the sprinter.

[Robert Hall]

15 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Say a person is interested in regular passenger cars, including sports cars, and NOT crossovers,  SUVs, and trucks, what might be on the exhibit floors at the various auto shows this year?  I don't think much.  What else can you think of besides the mid-engine Corvette? 

CT4 and CT5, maybe CT6 Blackwing... Mustang GT500, new Hyundai Sonata, maybe the latest generation 911... not a whole lot new in car-shaped forms from the mainstream brands that I can think of..  note that I'm thinking of vehicles that may up at local 'dealer' type car shows like the Cleveland Auto Show that starts today, not vehicles that debut at the big national-level shows...

As far as the remaining big national shows like NAIAS in June and LA in Nov, I would think 99% of the debuts will be trucks, CUVs and SUVs, with maybe 30% of those being BEVs. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by Robert Hall