Chick-Fil-A and a BIG PR Disaster

What is worse than getting your reputation ruined? Trying to restore it by creating a fake Facebook account, of course!

Chick-fil-A is an American fast food chain. A few weeks ago (July 2012) the company's reputation was affected by CEO Dan Cathy's anti-gay marriage allegations. Just a few days later, Chick-fil-A declared it withdrew kid's meal toys produced by the Jim Hendson Company, as these were defective. 

The outbreak started when a Facebook user publicly invited the company to avoid pretense of coincidence. At this point, a new user called Abby Farle advocated Chick-fil-A claiming to know for certain that the toy manufacturer had ended the contract much earlier than the CEO's anti-gay marriage stance became public.

(taken from here)

It was then discovered that Abby Farle became a Facebook user just hours before the discussion started and that images of a girl who looked exactly the same as her were available on Shutterstock. What a coincidence, huh?

The company denied its involvement in the Facebook discussion and invited its fans to spread this version of the story online. 55,000 people liked the post; however the mayors of Boston and Chicago have declared they wish to deny the chain licence to open new shops in their cities. 

MY COMMENT

How many coincidences! 

I think this is a typical example of a 'social media suicide'. Denial is an approach to crisis and issue management that I do not like, at all. I think that it is the worst response to a crisis in a highly connected world like the one we live in now. People talk, bloggers have a great influence, and common Facebook users can become revolutionists. Lying is not affordable anymore and companies should just accept it. Stakeholders prefer an organisation that admits its faults, apologises, and learn from its mistakes. I think denial is the worst move Chick-fil-A could have made. And the fake Facebook user is simply a no-no in PR! In this case, restoring the reputation would have been challenging because of the homophobic allegations alone. However, now the task will be even tougher, as it will be difficult to regain the trust of the publics and customers.

empty13

Today I want to talk about empty13, the campaign that aims to bring together communication experts from different fields for a stimulating debate. But what is it all about?

The campaign was launched by Bite Communications on 19th July 2012 and aims to generate a debate around the lack of 'big events' in 2013 and the meaning this has for brands.

Advertisers, PRPs, journalists, agencies, anyone involved in the industry can join the online conversation using the hash-tag #empty13 on Twitter. The agency opened the @theempty13 account to generate interest and awareness. Moreover, a website was created in order to offer the participants an open space where to discuss in further detail the topic. Anyone can in fact publish a post on the website.

The conversation has already started both on the website and on twitter.

MY OPINION

I find this campaign very clever and stimulating. I really like the idea of an extensive online conversation amongst experts from the different industries and the sense of community this can generate. I am in love with the name 'empty13'; I find it very powerful and memorable. I also believe this campaign can lead to more engaging topics such as the continuous need of generating stories and news for brands and organisations, following the digital revolution. It is not the first 'empty year' for the marketing industry - marketers always need to create new stories around brands. This is an undeniable truth.  It would be sufficient to think of the famous smoking campaign launched by Edward Bernays in the 1920s. It would be interesting to hear how experts feel about this constant need for newsworthy material and how they deal with it in their day-to-day lives. 

#ShellFail - The (Greenpeace) Le'ts Go Campaign Hoax

Just last week, at the International History of Public Relations Conference, I heard a debate about 'professional PR' and 'activist PR'. The present experts and academics were discussing the issue of professionalism in PR and whether not-for-profit PR could be deemed as professional. I am quite sure that after the latest Let's Go campaign signed by Greenpeace, they will have no more doubts...


THE  CAMPAIGN

A fake launch event in Seattle, at the Space Needle, last June (2012) marked the start of the campaign. As you can see in the video, something went terribly wrong at the event...

The video was spread on Twitter with the hashtag #ShellFail and went viral. It also has a dubstep remix!

A fake Shell website (Arcticisready) was also created by the activist group.

On the site, the new (fake) Shell campaign 'Let's go', which was all about new drilling actions in the Arctic, was being promoted and users were given the opportunity to contribute by creating ads like these: 

A kids section with the game Angry Bergs (obviously recalling Angry Birds) was also available. 

A bogus Twitter account (@ShellisPrepared) was also created. 

The tweets looked rather suspicious and often unprofessional, so it wasn't difficult to understand who was actually tweeting...

However, the tweets helped spreading the ads and increasing the popularity of the #arcticsready trend.


Greenpeace admitted the campaign was launched by them and now that the hoax is public, the environmentalist group is spreading a new trend - #TellShell - in order to launch its last tactic - a competition.

Twitter users who tweet the hashtag will have the chance to win a t-shirt.

Shell sent out news releases stating that the company was considering legal action. However, it seems that the oil giant is taking its time to respond to the 'attack'.

MY OPINION

As the French would say... fantastique! The idea and the implementation are simply brilliant. Excellent way to 'undermine a personality' (Cwalina et al. 2011). I think there is no doubt: not-for-profit and activist PR can be as creative and as effective as for-profit PR. The level of professionalism in a number of cases is equal, as previously demonstrated by the performance of Greenpeace, WWF, Save The Children, Unicef, and many more organisations. Shell will struggle to react to this clever strategy.

(All images in this post are screenshots I took because I suspect the ads will be removed shortly).


Reference:
Cwalina, W., Falkowski, A., Newman, B.I., 2011. Political Marketing: Theoretical and Strategic Foundations. Warsaw: Sharpe Incoroporated.

Wish You Were At Topshop

Last year (June 2011) Topshop launched its digital campaign for the summer. 

The Wish You Were At Topshop campaign is rather interesting because Topshop was the first in its industry to use Instagram.

THE CAMPAIGN

Client: Topshop

Agency: FreshNetworks

The campaign was mainly centred on the Instagram application for Ipad 2 and it linked experimental marketing with PR. 

Shoppers in the high street Topshops of London, Dublin, Liverpool, and Manchester had the chance to receive a free styling and make-up session. After getting all 'dolled-up', the shoppers were offered the opportunity to create a digital postcard with the Instagram application for Ipad2. Participants were then able to take the postcard home with them or upload it on their Facebook wall. A copy of the postcard also appeared on the Topshop gallery on the brand's website.

MY OPINION

I think this campaign was pretty smart. Nothing new in the experimental concept: we've seen free make-up sessions in Harrods, Selfridges, and other clothing shops before. However, the idea of linking this with the Instagram application was very clever (most of all at a time when Instagram was experiencing its boom). I believe audience participation is key to successful PR and digital campaigns. Moreover, I think experimental marketing can be very effective. Well done FreshNetworks.

Reverse Riots

After the London riots last year, 14 to 25 year-olds have become the age group holding the worst reputation in the UK. This is why vInspired, a youth volunteer charity, launched the Reverse Riots campaign.

Reverse Riots is a 'Do something campaign' and encourages young people to show the society that they contribute positively to society on social networking sites. The campaign uses celebrity endorsement, including Paloma Faith and Plan B. Audience participation is also a big part of the campaign. Youngsters from all over the UK are invited to take a picture of themselves holding a piece of paper in which they state how they positively contribute to their community, spread it online and use the hashtag #ReverseRiots on Twitter. 

Some lucky participants will have the chance to win a number of prizes or replace the Twitter profile picture of a celebrity on the London riots anniversary. 

MY OPINION

I think this social media campaign is very smart and I really like the audience participation factor. It seems like it will generate the media interest necessary to make it noticeable to traditional media and become mainstream news. 

Images from here.

The Book that Can't Wait

I am very busy with my dissertation and my job as a Student Manager at the International History of Public Relations these days, so I cannot update much the blog. Nevertheless, I came across this clever PR stunt and just had to share it with you.

Eterna Cadencia, an Argentinean publisher, had the brilliant idea of releasing 'The book that can't wait' using a special kind of ink that disappears as soon as it comes into contact with light and air. The stunt was developed in support to first time authors, whose books are often left on the shelves for months and years. The stunt generated incredible media interest and word of mouth.


It takes 2 months for the ink to disappear completely... Will you buy it on time?

Guerrilla Marketing Inspiration

I know guerrilla marketing is not PR (strictly speaking), but in a world where integrated campaigns are more than needed, I think it is all right to get some inspiration from some BRILLIANT ideas like these...

Images taken from here, here, here, and here.

Want to know more? Go here ('Top 5 excellent ways to increase sales with guerrilla marketing').

Life. Live it.

There are a lot of smart and good campaigns launched by the Red Cross, many of which are focused on educating the target audience in order to empower it - a common strategy in health promotion.

Life. Live it. was launched in 2011 to educate children and teenagers the basics of first aid.

THE CAMPAIGN

The key message of the campaign is: some very easy procedures can save the life of a friend.

Tactics:

° A mini-website filled with resources that help teach children aged 5 to 11 some basic notions;

° A kit that teachers can  use to educate 11 to 16 year-olds;

° A Facebook page;

° A contest that gives the chance to win 1 to 3 'Pushover' frisbees signed by the Bombay Bicycle club. Contestants needed to share the Facebook status of the Facebook page;

° A Twitter account. 

MY OPINION

I believe this campaign has not much of creativity, but it is effective and to the point. Many health promotion or public information campaigns need to be direct and aim for concrete results. On the Facebook page you can read: 'if your friend had too much to drink and passed out - would you know what do to?' Simple and to the point, just like the campaign.