Wanted: New CMO for #Chevy; I'm Sorry!

Chevrolet, not Chevy?? By now, most marketers have commented among themselves re: yesterday's leaked internal memo from GM's marketing guru Jim Campbell, the one that instructs every GM employee to stop calling Chevy a Chevy, and to only refer to that brand as Chevrolet.

Adding insult to injury; the memo suggests that going forward, any GM employee that uses one of the most memorable names in world history is required to contribute a quarter to a 'cuss can'

What a surprise the "new marketing strategy" was ridiculed by close to 50 million people within five minutes after the story hit the news wires and twitter pages.  But, we really gotta love how GM's Marketing czar shifted gears, and threw the car into reverse by saying "It was just a draft memo, and I was just kidding!"

Since I doubt that anyone at GM is going to engage me to counsel them on PR Crisis Management, for everyone else that's reading this:
Rule #1. NEVER email a document that you don't want to appear on the front page of the New York Times.
Rule #2. Read Rule #1 ten times. For the people at GM, make it twenty times.
Rule #3. "I was only kidding when I said that.." is a line that BP has already secured a patent for; anyone that uses it going forward is subject to an infringement suit.

I've crossed paths with Jim before; he's a good guy. I can only guess that somebody above him is sleeping with someone at the ad agency that recommended this new strategy.


TO: ATT CEO Randall Stephenson
When a customer emails you and appears to be frustrated with your pricing structure, its really not a good idea to respond with a letter that threatens him/her with a cease and desist order and civil action in the event said customer sends any more correspondences.

But, we love how quickly ATT did switch lines (pun intended). An official ATT statement issued shortly after the news media got hold of the story: "Because of this incident, we are reviewing our entire process to ensure a situation like this does not happen again."

Insiders are rumored to have said the new process will include automatically turning off the service of any customer that writes or calls to complain about service. That'll show 'em!  (Thank G-d I'm not an ATT customer!)