Bob Lutz Blogs

Don't know who Bob Lutz is?
The vice chairman of General Motors.
Fast Company ran a post that Lutz is now blogging.
And the good the bad and the ugly are responding as Fast Company points out.

Remarkably, the marketing mavens in Detroit haven't yet pulled down the comments, despite the harsh, honest musings spawned by the post. Indeed, they've thanked readers for them. In the process, they've created an instant, cheap, and much more authentic focus group than anything corporate marketing could artificially manufacture. It will be fascinating to watch what they do with it.

I would agree, that real life testing, discussions etc are far better than focus groups. As Malcolm Gladwell said in a Fast Company interview

It would be better for everybody if focus groups did not exist