First Pizza Hut decided they wanted to unofficially – officially go by “The Hut.” Now we have Radio Shack deciding they want to unofficially – officially go by “The Shack.” If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Seinfeld it’s that you can’t give yourself a nickname.  In one of the best Seinfeld episodes, titled “The Maid” George is struggling for an identity. He desperately wants to be called T-Bone. But, that name ends up being bestowed upon another co-worker…thus proving you can’t give yourself a nickname. Eventually George does get a nickname, “Koko.” I’ll let this video tell the story.

Pizza Hut, Radio Shack, and every other brand out there, please listen up. You can simply force a name change and expect it to stick. It’s just not going to happen. To me seeing Radio Shack and Pizza Hut trying to go by something “cooler” like The Shack or The Hut, simply shows that they have no idea who they are as a brand. That’s a scary thought.

Love this video. I’m sure many of you have seen it before, but it’s still very powerful.

In corporate culture we have dozens if not hundreds of “sayings” that are supposed to demonstrate to employees how simple business is. For example, the left hand needs to be talking to the right hand. Makes sense, right?

Ok, well I love when we see great examples of the right hand clearly not talking to the left hand. Ever since I was working at ConAgra Foods I’ve had my eye on Del Monte. Recently, they’ve been in the news quite a lot. On May 18th, Doug Chavez, the Senior Manager for Digital Media at Del Monte participated in a simulated contest at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Social Media Conference. The simulation enabled “sellers” like John Battelle to pitch a “buyer” like Chavez with ideas that leveraged Social Media.

As you all know, I’m not a digital evangelist. In fact I’m more of a realist. I’m the guy who tells people, “hey it’s great that you like twitter, but it doesn’t fit for this project.” But, I’ve also been around long enough to be forward looking. I was amazed at Chavez’s response to the proposals and social media in general. Specifically, here’s what he said:

“How we pulse (social) media though the year and how we track that is a challenge for us, because at the end of the day, what did you do for market share — what did you do for sales volume?”

I could go on and on about how you can’t PULSE social media, but that’s a conversation for a different day.

Look, I’m all for ROI. When you’re client side you hear a lot about ROI and in digital you hear about it every day.  Thankfully, I was fortunate enough work for Joan Chow at ConAgra Foods. She introduced the concept of ROMO, the return on marketing objective. Sometimes things are about the marketing objective. For example brand awareness is a marketing objective not a sales one. In theory higher awareness leads to sales, but not always.

Perhaps my favorite example of a company starting out with a ROMO plan that ultimately become a huge ROI story was Nike’s Live Strong brand. The goal of live strong was not to make a profit it was to raise awareness about cancer and Lance Armstrong’s support for cancer research. Suffice it to say, Live Strong evolved into a massive worldwide movement.

If all you care about are immediate sales, just drop a bunch of FSIs. Companies have been doing this for years.  But, that’s not the answer either.  According to Chavez, he doesn’t really care for the coupon. He stated, “How do you go from someone just getting a coupon to go beyond that and becoming a brand loyalist?”

Great question. We all want loyalty. It’s the holy grail of marketing. Oddly enough, Del Monte is leveraging social media to make this happen. At the very same conference, but at a different event, Josh Bernoff, of Forrester and author of Groundswell shared how Del Monte tapped into social media to drive the development of a new product. Check out the 3 minute video here.

Del Monte, crowd sourced the development of a new product.  Brilliant.  They created a community for dog lovers. The community become a great real time focus group.  Through that community they were able to source feedback and give the people what they want.  That’s how you get from social media investment, to awareness, to sales, to loyalty.

This is also a case of the  left hand not talking to the right hand. We have one person at Del Monte seemingly opposed to social media, while we have another group fired up and getting involved.

I point this out, not to make fun, chastise, or to be mean. Quite the contrary. This situation is exactly the type of disconnect taking place at companies (client side and agencies) across the world. With one hand we’re demanding results from a concept that’s less than 18 months old. And with the other hand we’re investing, because we see potential and realize if we don’t invest now, it’ll be too costly to play catch up later.

Buying into social media is as much a cultural shift for companies as it is a marketing shift. These two examples from the same conference highlight we still have a long way to go.

Please note, I did not attend the IAB’s conference in person. The quotes from Doug Chavez come directly from MediaPost’s coverage of the event here.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. We’ve heard that phrase for decades. As marketers and consumers that idea has been reinforced hundreds of times. If you want something you’ve got to be willing to pay for it. Pay of course is a broad term and isn’t restricted to money. You’ve heard the phrase, “no pain – no gain.” There’s no money exchanging hands, but you are making trading time and sweat for physical and health results.

I’ve always called referred to this idea as the concept of mutual exchange. When you give something you get something. In theory what you get should be equal to what you give. Want a coupon? Give your email address. Want a Coke? Hand over $0.99. Every day we’re engaging in a form of mutual exchange.

It’s a simple concept. But, lately it seems that people and companies are taking gross advantage of the concept. For example, the airline industry. The nickel and dime-ing for things like checking luggage, charging for water, or my personal favorite charging for bathroom usage, doesn’t seem consistent with a mutual exchange, does it. What about the financial crisis? People who were doing the “right thing” – borrowing only what they needed, not over-extending, and still paying their mortgage are not getting a fair shake. Where’s their “bail out.” Essentially they’re being punished for doing the right thing, while others are being rewarded for doing the wrong thing. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?

But, not everyone is failing at the concept of mutual exchange. In fact some are going over and beyond the call of duty. There’s no finer example than the Hyundai Assurance program.

If the auto industry is going to turn around it’s going to need to fix the balance of the mutual exchange. Hyundai is doing this in spades. The Hyundai Assurance program states ever so eloquently:

A decade ago Hyundai pioneered America’s Best Warranty™. Now we’re providing another kind of confidence. Finance or lease any new Hyundai, and if in the next year you lose your income*, we’ll let you return it. That’s the Hyundai Assurance.

At Hyundai we think it’s easier to find a job when you’ve got a car. That’s why, for a limited time, we expanded Hyundai Assurance, and we’ve added…something extra. A plus, as in Hyundai Assurance Plus. If you lose your income, we’ll make your payments for 3 months while you get back on your feet, and if that’s not enough time to work things out, you can return the car with no impact on your credit.

We’re all in this together, and we think it’ll be a little easier to get through it with a good set of wheels.

The key piece of copy is “we’re all in this together.” As I wrote in my contribution to The Project 100, “we all have a role to play in the community.”

Now, more than ever companies and consumers need to realize that the concept of mutual exchange works both ways. You, as a consumer, have to be willing to pay a fair value and yes even provide some information if you want to get a fair deal from a company. The flip side is true as well – companies, now is the time to right your wrongs and be willing to give a little to get a little. Yes, that could mean sacrificing a few percentage points of margin to make it happen.

Lennon and McCartney had it right, “in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.”