Jun 11, 2009
Top ten online PR fails and a couple of successes too
Graham Charlton¬†recently posted a rather good post on econsultancy highlighting ten rather bad online PR failures. Well worth a read, but I would just like to add a couple of online PR successes too…
When brands get it wrong they really do get it VERY wrong with how they handle OnlinePR and online marketing. Perhaps they don’t think about how big a reach the online medium has (hard to imagine really)?, perhaps they don’t think it is a real channel (perhaps they live under a rock)? Or perhaps they just don’t even realise what they are doing or the need for proper process and control?¬†
What ever the reasons as Graham’s list points out, when they get it wrong it can be spectacular!¬†
I loved¬†Ryanair and the¬†childish and insulting comments¬†that were left by a the airline staff on a blog site. Probably not the smartest move, but when the airline then said “it is Ryanair policy not to waste time and energy in corresponding with idiot bloggers and Ryanair can confirm that it won‚Äôt be happening again.” They probably summed up what so many of us would love to say and probably, speaking personally, believe! However there is a time and a place for such comments -¬†publicly¬†and during a surge in use of social web, not being it! So whilst I personally (and privately) totally agree with what they said and what they meant, they should just never have said it.¬†
If you follow me on Twitter then you already know that Pizza is never far from my mind 
So the Domino Pizza episode was always going to attract my attention. A¬†video showing¬†Domino’s employees adding various unsavoury embellishments to the food¬†they were preparing went viral on YouTube. It raises an associated point that my agency has been asked several times: how do you bury a story in social media? If it is untrue then obviously it is easy to get rid of, but what about when it is factually correct, but you would rather it “went away”? Well IMO the Domino issue was really created by the companies¬†response¬†and handling of the situation, which I firmly believe damaged them much more than the kids video would ever have done.¬†
The other eight examples certainly were not PR successes by any means! But similar to the Ryaniar example they were probably bourne out of sheer frustration with this new media and I can quite see how and why they did what they did. It just boils down to understanding the reach and power of new media and then, frustratingly, biting your tongue!
But what of the successes? Who has this new media Online PR stuff figured out? Well there is Sockington the Cat for a start. Socks, as he is known to his friends, has been very quick to understand how to use Twitter as a broadcast tool and build a strong and loyal community. He has then gone on to monetise this community through branded goods sold online. Purrrfect.
However, my top vote would have to go to¬†Aleksandr Orlov ‚Äì Founder of Compare the Meerkat. Whilst he has cheated a little by actually implementing a true multi-channel campaign (rather than just talking about!) which has included TV, there is no denying the success of his Facebook fan page with nearly half a million followers ¬†or his Twitter presence with a Meer[cat] 16,000 loyal followers. Whilst the numbers are important, it is the level of engagment and loyalty created that are truely impressive. Online PR at it’s best and should be compulsory case study material for all professional marketeers in my view. In case you don’t know comparethemeercat.com is the brilliant campaign that supports the online car insurance comparison site comparethemarket.com¬†¬†
Even though few are currently getting it right still, when you do the the pay off is huge. You could even use social media and online PR to help you get control of a complete nation… Mr Obama.¬†
The final word though has to go to Aleksander – Online PR “simples”!
Cheerio.
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Nice post! It’s a tricky one – because when a gaff occurs, however bad it may or may not be – the initial gut reactions are those which tend to compound it. They are all defensive mechanisms, and it is only natural, e.g:
1. Deny all responsibility
2. Accuse the “perpetrator” of lying (aggressive version of #1)
Of course, if the allegations are true – it’s often best to take it on the chin, no matter how much it’s gonna hurt.
You can then drag yourself to your feet and hang on the ropes for a bit, mumbling along the lines of “OK, OK, OK – but we’re gonna fix it..”.
If you deny it – and are then outed as having lied, well.. welcome to compounded failure country!
Informative and thought-provoking, especially the Dominos example. Why on earth didn’t Dominos embrace the wave of interest the kids had created, champion them as a way of engaging with a section of their customer base and even give the brand some much-needed humour that would simply fly virally? Kids of all ages would flock to buy (edible) replica disgusting pizzas on the menu and the world’s media would give Dominos positive PR that even Obama would dream of.
Sort of similar to the latest ‘Police outs blogging officer’ story. Instead of punishing him (thus giving massive worldwide leverage to a story they supposedly wanted to spike) how about embracing his passion for his job and appointing him as ‘Voice of the Bobby’ Tzar to a team specifically to sort out the ‘police red tape’ he was moaning about. Result would have been global success story. Instead we take the PR equivalent of a winning lottery ticket and flush it away in front of the world’s press hoping nobody notices.
[...] that one upset customer will do more word of mouth marketing for you than 10 delighted ones. As I wrote a while back, the web provides a very effective channel for Mr. Unhappy-Customer to communicate through, but [...]