General Motors chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre wants to sell a limited number of Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric cars before the official November launch but the idea has "a number of problems, and the car isn't one of them," a source tell Tim Higgins. Volts sold earlier could require routine tweaks and changes that could be misunderstood by the public and media, some insiders fear. This could result in public relations problems as GM tries to bolster its image as a reinvigorated automaker with the environmentally friendly and technologically advanced Volt leading the way. "There's a lot of …

Sitting in a meeting recently about new business opportunities at a global giant, Scott Anthony writes that he had an epiphany after hearing two words constantly crop up shortly after each proposition was introduced. The words were "What about?..." Important as the question may be to bring a project into sharper focus, Anthony says, once you get going, it's hard to stop. "Each answer generates questions whose answers lead to further questions. It could become infinite." And before you know it, you can kill a good idea. "Entrepreneurs don't have the luxury of asking "What about...' …

Hungry for new ways to generate sales, Random House is peddling two stories -- a fantasy adventure and a horror thriller -- to videogame marketers that a new in-house team has developed. The publisher suggests characters and a storyline and provides an analysis of the kind of gamer that would be attracted to each project, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg reports. "There is increasing emphasis on storytelling in the videogame business, on building new worlds from the ground up," says Keith Clayton, Random House's director of creative development. He and Mikita Labanok, director of business development, head the team …

With viewing down, ad skipping via DVRs on the rise, and clutter as bad as ever, some say the future of brand marketing on the TV screen is the integration of commercials with prominent product placements in shows, T.L. Stanley reports. Brand placements were up 3% in 2009 on broadcast TV and 5% on cable from 2008, according to Nielsen IAG. Stanley opens with an example from the CBS sitcom "Gary Unmarried" in which characters feast on buckets of KFC grilled chicken, with one wondering, "I wonder if it's five herbs and six spices, or 10 herbs and one …

Brands such as Quaker, Pepsi, Prilosec and Bisquick are moving beyond cause marketing to so-called microsponsorships that provide up to a few thousand dollars to consumers to fund their own pet projects, Natalie Zmuda and Emily Bryson York report. The Pepsi Refresh program, through which consumers can apply for grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000, is a prime example. Pepsi wants consumers choosing between a Coke and a Pepsi to think of the Refresh Project when they're about to buy. "It's that last three feet, that point of purchase," says Ralph Santana, vp-marketing at Pepsi. Pepsi is employing a …