By APNWLNS payday loans
Categories
- Branding & competitive advantage
- CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
- CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
- Great publicity campaigns
- Marketing to Women
- Mobile media
- New media and e-marketing
- Outdoor advertising
- social media
- Trends
- Uncategorized
Recent Posts
- Clever creative – ANAR billboard: One ad & one media, but two targets and two messages
- Dove Real Beauty Sketches: a campaign or a movement?
- Creativity on the street: get noticed & get business!
- Mobile disruption: Are you ready to buy with a #hashtag?
- The power of storytelling + a dash of synchronicity
Archives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- November 2011
- July 2011
- March 2011
- January 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- March 2010
- January 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
Blogroll
My other stuff
- 5-Minute Marketing / Five-Minute Marketing Google+ page
- 5-Minute Marketing book on Amazon
- 5-Minute Marketing podcasts on iTunes
- Charleson Communications
- E-Speakers
- Mary Charleson on Facebook
- Mary Charleson on Google+
- Mary Charleson on Twitter
- Mary Charleson on Youtube
Recommended blogs
Social media and public relations lessons “out of the blue”
Posted by Mary Charleson | Filed under Branding & competitive advantage, New media and e-marketing, social media, Trends
What then to do when a self-appointed celebrity selects your brand, and you unwittingly become dragged into a negative association not of your own making? That’s exactly what happened with Labatt’s last week, when a photo of the now infamous Canuck cannibal killer Luka Magnotta surfaced, courtesy of the Montreal Gazette, holding a tin of Labatt’s Blue. While the paper could be accused of inflaming the story for their own readership gain, having selected the photo from hundreds available on Magnolla’s Facebook page, it was the actions of Labatt’s lawyers that drew the attention that ultimately turned the story into a public relations nightmare.
Simply put, the lawyers acted in a command control manner, as though they could reprimand the Gazette in a vacuum. Of course the world of social media would have none of that, and it wasn’t long before someone on Facebook speculated it was all a cleverly shielded campaign by Labatt to gain attention. Before long someone else had created a hash tag on Twitter #newlabattcampaign. That’s when, in the words of Malcolm Gladwell, “it tipped.” News of the supposed campaign spread and actually became a trending topic on Twitter in Canada last week. Clever, yet tasteless headlines such as “I would give an arm and a leg for a Labatt Blue,” and “Labatt Blue: All beer, no head,” were bantered about while the creation of campaign one-liners became sport for many. It only came to a halt when thankfully; the public relations department rescued the lawyers mired in unfamiliar social media territory. Labatt’s retracted their threat to sue the Gazette and simply stated that they had been trying to protect their brand. An earnest cause for sure, but unfortunately they learned the hard way that consumers owned the message, not the lawyers in corporate headquarters.
For me what became painfully obvious in all this was the utter importance of having brand equity and good will in the bank, so if need be in times of crisis, some equity can be squandered, while still maintaining brand value. Framed from a different perspective, I’m not sure had Mr. Magnotta been sporting a Molson Canadian, would the resulting fall out have been the same. Molson has invested heavily in brand building, aligning themselves closely with brand Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics. I don’t think the social media sphere would have turned so quickly on something that tapped that inner connection to Canadian values.
While Labatt’s hasn’t used their 1998 campaign line, “A whole lot can happen out of the blue,” for some time, but they certainly learned last week that public relations lessons in the age of social media can happen out of the blue!
Tags: "5-Minute Marketing", "Five-minute marketing", "Mary Charleson", "social media", advertising, branding, Labatt, Magnotta, Trends, Vancouver, viral