General Motor’s Chevrolet Division has been making headlines this Summer with advertising for their new return policy for 2012 and 2013 model year Chevys.

The marketing spin: If you don’t love your new Chevy, you can return it.

Be sure to pay close attention to the fine print in the offer: the return policy only applies to those “Summer Lovers” who purchase a Chevy between July 10th and September 4th, 2012. Buyers must keep the vehicle for at least 30 days before filing a return claim, then have only an additional 30 days to file; once 60 days pass, time’s up, you’re married. To file a claim, heartbroken buyers must provide Chevrolet with the original bill of sale, driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. Strangely, Chevy allows cars to be returned with up to 4000 miles—that’s a lot of driving in a month! And very important to note, the return policy only refunds the purchase price less any rebates, incentives, registration and title costs, and sales tax. If you finance the car, you’re on the hook for those costs too. So, if you’re thinking this is your opportunity to have a consequence-free, “one-night stand” with that Torch-red Corvette ZR-1 you’ve always wanted – think again.

So why is GM doing this? The TopRight view is that Chevy marketers are trying to kill two birds with one promotional stone: depleting 2012 dealer inventory while simultaneously garnering new customers for the 2013s. It’s a clever promotion, and it will be interesting to see how it resonates in the marketplace. One thing is certain: GM’s “Super-Hot” Global Marketing Chief, Joel Ewanick, won’t be around to see how it plays out. GM sacked him earlier this month. As many CMOs know so well: “The hottest love has the coldest end” – Socrates.

Back to the Start

Chipotle hit a home run with their two and a half minute viral video and it’s hard to not love it. They are on target to have over seven million views in a year, which is pretty incredible when you remember that every single one of the people who viewed it– voluntarily elected to watch the ad by choice!

The video hits on so many emotional levels, drawing different emotional cues to engage with the audience throughout the video. The song “The Scientist”, originally by Coldplay but remade by Willie Nelson for this video, is the perfect song for this advertisement. It’s haunting and even more somber with Nelson on the microphone, and he delivers the perfect sound to go along with eye opening visuals as he walks you through the progression of modern day farming.

The video is actionable. As the farmer struggles with the way that he’s currently farming, the music and emotion orchestrate and deliver and empowering and heartfelt explosion as he “breaks down the walls” and goes back to the roots of farming. As the farmer goes through this progression, it’s easy for the reader to feel encouraged to change the way they eat and investigate where their food is really coming from. I don’t know about you guys, but by the end of the video I was happy for the farmer (and the pigs) and obviously correlated this with Chipotles brand proposition and brand differentiation.

Although it’s not quite a phenomenon—just a modest 7 mil a year—this video will be available for years to come and should still be applicable. Their brand message to “Cultivate a Better World” will continue to be delivered, as long as they want to continue to differentiate themselves as an environmentally conscious quick-serve restaurant. Congrats to Chipotle for an awesome marketing vehicle—and to think they didn’t even have to buy any media to advertise!!

Check any college student’s browser history these days and you might find the sensational, college humor blog #whatshouldwecallme on their screen. Look at the banner advertisements and you’ll find a brand trying to target that segment.

Using only GIF’s (Graphics Interchange Format– short videos that repeat without sound) and witty captions, two grad students have taken their inside joke and turned it into one of the most visited college humor sites on the internet called #whatshouldwecallme. They started the site by sharing Twitter #hashtags when they moved to different cities for grad school to share experiences or emotions, whether it be #lovemynewiphone to #mygoshmyheadhurts and from there, they started pairing GIF’s with these hashtags to create hilarious short clips that tell a story. GIF’s have been around since 1987, but not until today do we see them being used this much by an “older” audience in a context other than avatars or profile pictures. This website has been a phenomenon of late, and it’s easy to see why.

Clips come from anywhere, from home videos, to TV shows like “Jersey Shore”. #Whatshouldwecallme portrays everyday social, educational, and sometimes professional situations & sentiments in simple clips that that identify with the viewer and say, “That’s so me!”

Through #whatshouldwecallme, we find that these short messages tell us we can convey some of the same messages in a GIF as we can in a 30 second video. If I were on point for Sonic’s new digital advertising campaign for the NCAA basketball tournament, here’s an example of a how I would apply the same concept to my customer:

“When someone reaches for my Sonic tots.”

Now, Sonic’s 30 second commercial:

Sonic Tot Rejection

Can you not apply this same method to connect with any age group? Race? Gender? Target audience? Whether they know it or not, #whatshouldwecallme has shown how simple it is to connect with a reader if you know your audience. Simple and effective messaging at its finest.

If you are not already familiar with Pinterest, you soon will be. The bulletin board site- which allows users to create online scrapbooks, share images of products and projects has skyrocketed in the last six months. In fact, Pinterest is so interesting the site generated more than 11 million visitors last month, that’s an increase from almost 5 million visitors last November, according to Comscore.  So, is Pinterest just the flavor-of-the-month in a bevy of online social sites?  Or, does Pinterest have a viable business model to create staying power?  I say it has staying power and here’s why:

Referrals never looked so good. Pinterest takes the art of the referral and places it in a lovely online space.  It’s different. Users share and re-share pins and images, create chats around products, exchange ideas and ultimately influence buying decisions. It’s a unique community. Users have a greater say in how they interact with brands.  Opportunistic retailers, like Nordstrom, Gap, and Chobani have been quick to leverage Pinterest’s popularity, themed pin boards, catalogues, and new recipes fill the space. The retailers generate thousands of followers, with hopes of boosting sales.

Pinterest is exclusive. You’re invited to join the site, what better way to differentiate and boost user status? And though Pinterest might be unprofitable now, it will eventually generate revenues, whether it monetizes through product links or takes a more invasive route of advertising with its user base or any other approach.

Pinterest’s business model might be a case where the sum is greater than the parts. But for the millions of visitors who have already made the site a part of their lifestyle, it just might be enough.

If you really think about it, a brand is nothing more than a container for the promises and benefits that your company makes and delivers to your target audience. Therefore, branding is really about managing your company’s reputation. If you make a promise, you better deliver on it. Break a promise and your reputation will suffer. Just like a personal reputation, a brand reputation is formed based on the behaviors and actions of the company (or a person within the company) and how those behaviors and actions are perceived by the target audience. Since most people understand what a personal reputation is, it makes it easier to understand what “branding” is all about.

In today’s socially-networked world, it is imperative for brand owners to actively monitor Social Media channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as track blogs, forums and online communities where conversations about the brand may occur. Whether the conversation is positive, negative, humorous, or just sarcastic, you must track the sources of such content and gauge the sentiment and underlying emotions in order to protect and enhance reputation.

The key to making the transition from brand to reputation management lies in the examination of the company through a set of filters designed to gauge how you are shifting from a reliance on the traditional art of persuasion to the adoption of the disciplines of authenticity.

Download our latest white paper to learn more about the shift from brand management to reputation management by practicing a discipline of authenticity – and if you’re a B2B marketer there are a few additional recommendations just for you.

We’re in the midst of a remarkable marketing evolution at this moment in time. The multitude and complexity of communication mediums and technologies that are being used to speak to the market is revolutionizing how the work of marketing is performed. The days of campaign-oriented thinking – the traditional approach of “start-stop-measure-tweak-repeat” – are over. Today, marketers wanting to effectively build brands and drive revenue growth must facilitate a continuous, meaningful conversation with their target audience or they risk becoming irrelevant.

Download our latest white paper to learn more about the distinctions between campaigns and conversations and how you may need to change your perspectives on direct marketing – and if you’re a B2B marketer there are a few additional recommendations just for you.

Research in Motion (RIM) had it all:  they were the leading suppliers of cell phones to American businesses and had the lion’s share of the Smartphone market. But that was not enough for RIM, they wanted a slice of the consumer market too and developed the Blackberry PlayBook tablet to join in the competition with Apple and a plethora of Android-based competitors. But delusions of grandeur and targeting the wrong market have led RIM to land on our Marketing FAIL page.

Since its launch in 2003, the BlackBerry Smartphone led the way in business communication with its QWERTY keyboard and ability to give users access to their corporate email. The BlackBerry had RIM riding high by 2009 as Fortune Magazine named RIM “the fastest growing company in the world with a growth of 84% in profits over three years despite the recession.” By September 2010, RIM announced that the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer would be launched the following spring despite the fact that Apple had already taken the lead by successfully launching the iPad in April 2010.  Trying to “one-up” Apple,  RIM claimed to be a superior tablet thanks to its support for Flash technology for streaming video content. RIM’s Co-Chief Executive Officer, Jim Balsillie, said, “The PlayBook is compelling because it works with the BlackBerry, allowing those hooked on the RIM Smartphone to continue using their preferred communications device.” But RIM has struggled mightily to market the product effectively… notably marred by the departure of Chief Marketing Officer, Keith Pardy,  just a month before the launch.  However, there are far more serious problems with the PlayBook: an unfamiliar operating system (QNX); a screen that users claimed was too small and a price that was too high.  These issues combined with the fact that a BlackBerry phone must be tethered to the Playbook in order to access email services may have put success out of RIM’s reach.  With lackluster sales, the company recently undertook a price-slashing initiative by cutting $50 – $150 off the Playbook – a “fire-sale” move that just underscores their irrelevance with consumers.  The company’s stock value has taken a plunge and the future looks bleak as many consumers seem hooked on the Apple iPad and various Android-based tablets.

Check out Dave Sutton’s live interview on TrendPOV to get more details on how RIM could have avoided this failure – and also how they may be able to yet recover.

While many retail professionals may be tired of the hype surrounding social media, there is no denying that the retail industry is facing a game-changer. This is not to say that social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have turned retail businesses completely upside down, but such sites are changing the customer engagement game enough where retailers who ignore social channels place their brand and customer loyalty at significant risk.

Furthermore, it’s very clear that social media is not just a passing fad.   A recent survey by Nielsen showed that social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular online activity, even more popular than personal email. And users are not just “tweeting” and blogging about their everyday lives; they are sharing details on their personal shopping and product experiences – often unfavorable ones – with the world.

Social media implications for most retailers today are dramatic.  And, if you happen to be a small, specialty retailer it can be downright overwhelming… Where do you start?  Which social channels are most important? What conversations really matter for your business and what’s just chatter?  And even if you’ve already started, how do you know you’re getting optimal value from your investments in social media?

Want to learn more?   Check out Dave Sutton at the Atlanta Fall Gift & Home Furnishings Market & The Atlanta Gourmet Market on October 14, 2011 at America’s Mart where he will be presenting new social media strategies for changing retail dynamics.  Get a copy of his latest social media white paper for free by clicking here.

Social media and social technologies have already had a transformational impact on business models across many industries. Now, market leaders are moving to mix “social” capabilities into their innovation agenda. True “social innovation” goes well beyond customer engagement and ideation, it requires a coordinated, cross-functional team to source socially generated innovation, to evaluate, scale and implement it. And, as innovations are launched, real innovators monitor socially directed buying behaviors and closely manage online reputations for clues to the next innovation cycle. Dave Sutton recently addressed the Stryve Executive Forum on the subject of using social media and associated technologies to drive product and service innovation – get a copy of the presentation here (it’s a rather large file so please be patient with the download!). TopRight and Stryve have partnered to conduct a research program in 2012 focused on putting social media to work. We will move past the hype, debunk the myths, and create a clearing where a sound social strategy can be formulated – a strategy aligned with competitive forces, industry structure, business strategy, and the marketing and other value-adding activities of the enterprise. If you’re interested in participating in the research program please let us know by sending an email to Dave Sutton. Also, please let us know if you’ve mixed up something special with social media technologies at your company that has resulted in product or service innovations.

TopRight has been pleased to assist in the development and launch of an entirely new retail concept: SharpMart.  SharpMart is dedicated to serving people interested in buying, selling and trading great products by offering them the best place right in their own neighborhood.  With SharpMart nearby, customers don’t need to go online to find great deals, they don’t need to post items for sale on eBay or Craigslist to sell, and they don’t need to haggle with strangers to trade.   SharpMart is the new place to Save, Swap & Sell.

SharpMart carries a huge inventory of new merchandise for customers interested in buying great products – including items they’ve seen at other stores.  The Company gets great buys from other retailers and manufacturers, and then offers customers “Sharp Deals” on products they really want, not just leftovers or “scratch-and-dent” items.   SharpMart also welcomes Traders and Sellers.  Store associates are knowledgeable and passionate about the products SharpMart carries as well as the items customers bring in to sell or swap.  SharpMart offers traders a great place to get something newer, funner, or even just different.  SharpMart offers sellers the best price for items they bring in to sell.  The store makes sure customers always get friendly, helpful advice on all trades and sales.

According to the Chairman of SharpMart, Hamilton Powell, “TopRight assisted with the naming, branding and marketing of our retail concept – and they exceeded our expectations.  Whereas most marketing firms are viewed as a third party, TopRight quickly became an essential part of our team. The work, creativity, long hours and overall assistance they provided was an integral part of our success. We felt like we had 100% of their attention and were not simply “a project” but rather “the project”.  I highly recommend the team at Top Right and encourage any firm or company in need of a marketing/branding resource to contact TopRight first.”  The TopRight team is proud to have helped launch this new retail concept and we enjoyed working closely with their talented management team.

July 9th marked the Grand Opening of SharpMart’s flagship store in Louisville KY  - listen for upcoming announcements for store openings in other cities around the country!  And of course, you can check out SharpMart online at http://www.sharpmart.com