EBay Says No Deal Yet With GM

Remember that deal GM had this morning with EBay to experiment with auctioning new cars? The one designed to make the ol' Detroit automaker look innovative? Turns out there's no deal with EBay. When will GM learn?

Hey, GM, would you mind meeting us over at camera three for a minute?

OK, GM, seriously, between us, you've got to stop this whole half-assed PR thing. It's no longer about doing things to make you look good, or looking for ways to make people think you're looking good, it's about actually doing good. So if you've got the idea to work on a deal with EBay, work on a deal with EBay, finish it and then announce it. Don't announce that you're thinking of possibly engaging in talks on a deal to try stuff out with EBay and then have EBay turn around and call you out for not actually doing anything.

In most cases it's ridiculous to use Apple in comparison with GM because, well, they're two completely different types of companies, but one way it works is PR. When Steve Jobs announces a new product, he's got it ready to hit stores and it's going on sale that day. Not three months from now. Not six months from now. Of course, autos are a different deal. I know it takes five years to bring a new car to market. But we're not talking about cars — we're talking about PR. Or what you should be calling PR instead of the shit you've pulled recently like the "deal" with Segway for the PUMA or now this "deal" with EBay. Quit coming to the public with half a thing and come to the public when you've got the whole thing.

I don't know if this constantly half-baked idea problem is an issue with Steve Harris's PR team or if it's an issue with the entire C-suite, but fercrissakes, quit doing what looks like the equivalent of walking out of a bathroom with your zipper down and the back of your shirt tucked into your underwear. Frankly, you look like the jackass old guy in the office who still talks about the good ol' days when he could play grab-ass with the secretarial pool. No offense, Bob.

The point is, if you want to be considered a world-class automaker with world-class, innovative ideas, you've got to actually have some world-class, innovative ideas — which it sounds like you do — but then you have to deliver on them. But if you keep coming up with great ideas and then fall down on the implementation and marketing of them, you're never going to figure out you've got your shirt tucked into your ass crack.

/Rant

[via NYT]