When a company faces a crisis so bad that it believes its name is permanently sullied, in enters the rebrand and rename. Witness ValuJet to AirTran, Philip Morris to Altria, Anderson Consulting to Accenture, and Blackwater to Xe.

Now it seems it’s the beleaguered auto industry’s turn to get creative. General Motors’ asset management service unit, General Motors Asset Management, has dropped GM from its name, The Wall Street Journal reports. Instead, it will rebrand as Promark Global Advisors, as it looks to win more “external business.” GM currently accounts for 80% of its funds, WSJ writes.

The re-branding exercise represents a marketing about-face for GMAM, which had previously highlighted its relationship with the auto maker as a strength. Marketing material on its Web site noted: “The investment programs offered to our clients are the same ones in which GM’s benefit plans participate.” Some of GMAM’s senior executive team, including its CFO and chief operating officer, joined from GM or its GMAC financing arm.

I wonder who else will get a new name in ‘09?

Jay Leno is doing his part to help the unemployed—by making them laugh. The comedian’s latest publicity stunt offers free tickets to the April 7 taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for anyone who is unemployed in Detroit. “Jay’s Comedy Stimulus Plan,” held at the home of the Detroit Pistons, the Palace of Auburn Hills, will also have free refreshments and parking.

After 77 years, GM is no longer the world’s largest automaker, selling only 8.35 million vehicles as opposed to Toyota’s 8.97 million. While both companies face falling sales and eroding consumer confidence, does Toyota’s claim to the title even matter?

“It certainly doesn’t have the oomph it would have, had the environment been better,” Michelle Krebs, senior editor of Edmunds’ AutoObserver.com, told PRWeek. “A company can sell a lot of cars and not make money…The media makes a whole lot more of this…The consumer doesn’t much care.”

Krebs also notes that the greater focus for these automakers is on being “profitable and minimizing losses to better position [themselves].”

Fritz Henderson, GM COO, echoed that sentiment Tuesday, at the Automotive News World Congress, where Bloomberg reported, Henderson said the sales race didn’t compare with the company’s current objective of returning to profitability. Henderson reportedly said, “What if we have an $800 billion fiscal stimulus package and it doesn’t work?”

The Port of Los Angeles is working to explain to the public and policymakers its continued activities during a downturn. An in the Los Angeles Times on December 15 took a look at the projects coming to fruition at the Port of Los Angeles and the criticisms the Port is facing because of its spending on such projects during a down economy. “The projects at both ports [Los Angeles and Long Beach] are being fought by environmentalists and neighbors concerned about premature deaths and a higher incidence of asthma,” the article said.

Arley Baker, senior director of communications and legislative affairs for the Port of Los Angeles, said the PR has focused on working with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and becoming a part of the public and political commentary about the situation. “By advancing those projects we continue to be an economic engine in this down economy,” he told PRWeek via e-mail. ”On the other hand, we are a municipal business, our revenues are down and our resources are finite.” 

The Port had hired a PR firm to help with its Clean Truck Program earlier this year, but the current media relations has mostly fallen to internal staff, Baker said. 

After a dismal first go-round in Washington, Detroit’s Big Three automakers are revamping their requests for help from the government. It includes public-friendly changes like $1 CEO salaries and hybrid auto carpools, rather than private jet transportation to Capitol Hill. The US automakers’ union also appears ready to make some concessions.

Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors are set to appear in-person on the Hill later this week, though some of their plans were to Congress today.

Talk of possible mergers amongst  the Big Three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) have recently hit the newswire hard, particularly in context of car manufacturers’ liquidity issues and receipt of a government bail-out. After the Friday announcement of a possible merger between GM and Chrysler, the stock of GM and past-merger candidate Ford appreciably rose, Monday, with investors evidently listening closely to the media chatter.  While some publications are reporting the likelihood of an eventual GM merger or even speculating on how this relationship could lift up the market, others are calling into question the efficacy of a merger, and saying that the resultant media coverage is .

The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and the Wal-Mart Foundation’s “Drive Smarter Challenge,” which helps the public reduce gas usage, has expanded into the Hispanic market and partnered with NASCAR, said Rozanne Weissman, director of communications and marketing for ASE.

PRWeek’s Ted McKenna originally covered the campaign in a May 16 article called “Nonprofits team up to help public reduce gas usage.”

“When we raised more money, our first priority was to do outreach to the Hispanic community,” Weissman said. The ASE signed with the Hispanic Communications Network in June and introduced Spanish-language PSAs and a song called “Driving and Saving” (”Manejando y Ahorrando”) song, in mp3 and ringtone versions this month. HCN, who worked pro bono on the campaign, also provided Spanish-language print columns with money-saving gas tips to send to Hispanic media. Consumers can also sign up to receive weekly money-saving tips in Spanish via text message.

NASCAR, the 19th partner in the Drive Smarter Challenge, is working with the campaign by including car care tips on its reality television show NASCAR Angels, featuring PSAs during the NASCAR Performance Live weekly radio show, and offering drivers like Sam Hornish, Jr., who hosts for the campaign.

Prayers for lower gas prices were answered temporarily, when several separate churches across the country hosted events, where consumers could receive gas gratis or at prices as low as 70 cents a gallon without the evangelical hard sell.

“Gas is a common ground,” one parishioner told the Alabama Press Register. “Someone can tell you that Jesus love you, but it means more with a physical action behind it. I’m sure we’ll get them.”

Further connecting the fuel issue with Christianity, the Evangelical Environmental Network and Christian Care Magazine created an ongoing educational campaign, “What Would Jesus Drive?” to promote the simultaneous need for godly and environmentally efficient transportation choices.

With the launch of its GMNext blog, GM executives, engineers, and communications people appear to have gotten a bit more than they bargained for in their discussion of how GM cars may look and perform in the future.

The site was initially wide open to outside comment and one of the results was a bombardment of criticism from environmental activists groups — of the “corporations are evil” variety, according to Scot Keller, GM’s director of corporate brand communications. The company’s reaction since then could be an interesting case study in how businesses address corporate social responsibility issues through such a volatile medium.

In the main, the company says it aims with the site not to censor but rather address criticism head on.

“We tried to have Beth Lowry, our environmental VP, address their questions,” says Christopher Barger, GM’s director of global communications technology. “They started shouting her down, including with personal attacks. We sort of recognized, ‘OK, we’re being campaigned.’ It’s perfectly legitimate to take control back of your site. So we shut down the public commentary.”

Commentary was blocked in some areas of the blog dealing with environmental issues, though transcripts have been posted of past postings so that visitors can see for themselves what was said. In general, says Barger and Keller, GM has sought to directly tackle the question of whether GMNext and GM environmental initiatives, such as its emphasis on the use of biofuels, are legitimate or merely “greenwashing.”

Going forward, the site – which also includes a wiki devoted to GM’s history and its 100th anniversary – is looking to address a number of the concerns raised in those initial comments through a series of online chats open to discussion by all and featuring GM executives as well as environmental advocacy groups. A discussion planned tomorrow will feature a Hummer designer, for example, while one next week will focus on biofuels.

Barger and Keller and say the company obviously recognizes that it cannot control what people say about what it makes or how it impacts the environment, therefore GM can only engage with the people who care about such issues either on the GM site or other blogs or Web sites as much as possible.”Frankly, there are a lot of uninformed or under-informed people out there,” Keller says. But the fact of the matter is, if we never made an effort to educate them, if we haven’t done that kind of outreach, we can’t blame them for getting it wrong.”

Drivers without a navigation system in their cars will soon be able to get at the pump… from Google. On Wednesday, the company will announce the distribution of driving directions at thousands of gas pump locations across the country beginning early December.
The pumps, manufactured by Gilbarco Veeder-Root, will allow for Internet connection, displaying Google’s mapping service in color on a small screen. Users will be able to scroll through several categories to look up local landmarks, hotels, eateries, and hospitals, and print out directions to these destinations. The company seeks to direct users to specific addresses in the future.

“We think the service will create more customer loyalty for retailers,” said Gilbarco Veeder-Root spokeswoman Lucy Sackett.

About 3,500 gas pumps will initially offer the service, and will expand based on retailer demand.

Making maps available at gas pumps appealed to Google because the Mountain View-based company wants to make its services available whenever and wherever people need them, said Karen Roter Davis, a principal business development manager for Google.

Thanks to Google’s new high-tech offering, stubborn drivers and motorists can now pull up at stations and ask for directions without feeling embarassed, or fighting with their wives.