Zombie Ad Unwelcome Next To Funeral Home

Clear Channel has been forced to apologize after placing a billboard for The Walking Dead right next to a funeral home in England. As is often the case with these types of stories (particularly ones from the U.K.), the quotes from people on the street are the best part. Susan Jones, a resident of a nearby hospice and thus apparently an expert on death, says: "There must be somewhere else they could put it that would have shown a degree of insight and sensitivity. … Emotions can be pretty raw when people are recently bereaved. Words like 'death' and 'dead' can be very difficult." (Imagine what the word undead does to a person!) Jones goes on: "If you encounter this just as you are going to the funeral service to make arrangements for a loved one, it could be upsetting. People of a certain age group could find it particularly challenging." A local councillor was also asked about it. He replied, stoically: "Some will be amused, others may be offended. It left me unmoved." Meanwhile, a spokesman for the funeral home called the whole thing "disappointing," and Clear Channel said it regrets the "unfortunate juxtaposition" and removed the ad right away.

via adweek.blogs.com

The Life Cycle of a Social Media Sin

Kenneth Cole probably regrets using a political revolution in Egypt and widespread unrest in North Africa as a way to promote his Spring Collection on Twitter. But, luckily for him, the whole event was basically concluded within 10 hours.

The Gulf Oil Spill's spurring of the @BPGlobalPR parody Twitter account this past summer set the tone and has formed a template for how companies' mistakes are treated in the social-media world. It happened when Gap changed its logo and birthed @GapLogo; it happened when the world decided it hated the latest ITunes icon, and @ITunes10Icon started; and it happened on Thursday when someone out there set up @KennethColePR.

In each case, the cycle of how consumers react to a brand is generally the same, but what's changing is that the cycle is speeding up. Each time a brand experiences a social-media blunder, the event blows up and moves through the seven stages below faster and faster before the whole thing vanishes in a puff of smoke.

While some out there are dubbing blunders like the one Kenneth Cole made brand suicide, it seems brands are having an easier time returning to everyday life than they did before.

Why? Largely because those folks who are out there looking to yuk it up with a parody account on Twitter quickly distract folks from the distasteful mistake that made people mad in the first place. We don't suspect a marketer has yet been smart enough to set one up themselves, but going forward, you never know

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Kenneth Cole’s cringe-worthy Tweet on Egypt offers a case study:

1. Gaffe. Thursday, 10:15 a.m.

It all starts with this tweet from @KennethCole (since deleted):

Kenneth Cole's ill-concieved tweet, incidentally, came not from some inexperienced intern or a misguided public relations exec, but from the brain of Mr. Cole himself, posted via Blackberry and signed by him.

2. Outrage. Thursday 12 p.m.

The wrath of the web is unleashed almost immediately. Here's a sampling of the hate and expletive-ridden hashtags the Twitterverse was spewing within just minutes of when Mr. Cole posted the tweet: 

The outrage exhibited on Twitter spawned the media—Ad Age included—to pick up on Mr. Cole's blunder. We put up a post at about 12:30 and others followed. 

The New York Daily News posted a four-paragraph story at 2:47 p.m. about it , nearly the same time Mashable—later than you'd expect—picked up on it. ABC News and CNBC both posted stories between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.  

3. Apology. Two hours later

“I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I've dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate. -Kenneth Cole, chairman and chief creative officer.

4. Parody. Thursday, 1 p.m.

"People from New Orleans are flooding into Kenneth Cole stores!" #KennethColeTweets

People of Australia: Water up to your ankles? We've got your Kenneth Cole capris right here! #KennethColeTweets

5. Humor. Thursday, 2:45 p.m.

Some 250 minutes after the initial incident took place, people went from decrying to laughing about the situation. They were retweeting the parody account and sharing it with their friends.

Simply amazing! RT @KristinaWeise: The handle @KennethColePR is both hilarious & really sad. Mostly hilarious though. #kennethcoletweets

This is like christmas come early. RT @KennethColePR: Ben Roethlisberger would force himself on OUR spring looks! #KennethColeTweets

 

By this time, the parody account had over 1,000 followers. @GapLogo reveled in @kennethcole's pain.

Apparently @KennethCole hired Marka Hansen to watch over the marketing team's Twittering efforts.

Just to clarify, we did not put the inappropriate tweet on our store. It was a prank. -KC http://on.mash.to/dETy4l

6. Indifference. Thursday 4-7:30 p.m. 

It's not long before it's clear nobody really cares. 

As Business Insider pointed out, the stock price was tracking high on a day that the market was generally flat, and by the time the markets closed, it was at $13.89, up 1.83%.

It also turns out you can score from a social-media sin -- Kenneth Cole ended the day with a spike in followers. As of about noon, @kennethcole had 8,935 followers; three hours later, 9,262; and by 7 p.m., 9,779. That's counting those who during stage two began asking people to #unfollow the brand.

And beyond the numbers, the sentiment had changed. Fans took to Facebook and waved off the drama. 

Said Scott Roeben: "No apology needed! It was funny. And ultimately, IT'S JUST TWITTER. People need to lighten up."

Said Allen E. Simpson: "I didn't even see it, but now that it's generated enough whatever to cause this apology from someone whose style and creations I like and appreciate as a designer and consumer, I'll let it slide if and when I do see it, especially since compared to some of the other insane-to-just-plain-wrong I've seen from other stars and peasants alike in regard to any number of things in the world, I highly doubt your comment would have even ruffled my feathers."

Said Alix Bashir: "People were offended? How exactly. I'm with the people (protests) but to be offended? What a waste of time. Be offended by those who are against the people, by those fighting and harming the people. Not by a harmless joke. Oh and I like your watches!"

7. Repeat.

For whomever's next, be aware that Twitter and news outlets will be watching. And chances are, by then, the entire cycle will have condensed into about three minutes.

via ad age

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Borders Goes Bust

Borders files for Chapter 11:

Posted by Barry Silverstein on February 16, 2011 11:30 AM

Just about a year ago, we were talking about the inevitability of a Borders bankruptcy. That day is finally here — and the only surprise is that it took as long as it did.

Borders, the embattled US bookseller that once competed with the likes of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today and will close about 200 stores out of around 640 and reduce its staff.

It's still expressing optimism that it can manage a comeback. Its Twitter feed today responded to a concerned customer, "Our goal is to emerge from the Chapter 11 process as a vibrant destination for books & more for years!" 

Borders' largest unsecured creditors include such publishers as Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan Penguin Putnam, Random House, and Simon & Schuster, according to the company's bankruptcy filing. While Chapter 11 allows for reorganization, it's anybody's guess if Borders can re-engineer its business model to compete successfully.

Borders got its start as a college town bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan. It was opened in 1971 by Tom and Louis Borders and developed a reputation as a cool hangout with knowledgeable employees. The store expanded into a chain through the 1990s with some of its growth coming from a combination with Waldenbooks in the early 90s.

By 2010, Borders had over $2 billion in revenue, but it recorded a lost of over $168 million for the year, partially due to a major investment in marketing Kobo (see below), its e-reader rival to Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's nook — and of course Apple's iPad.

In announcing the brand's bankruptcy filing, Borders president Michael Edwards made the following statement:

"It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending, our ongoing discussions with publishers and other vendor related parties, and the company's lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor and which are essential for it to move forward with its business strategy to reposition itself successfully for the long term."

From a branding perspective, Borders/Waldenbooks had little to distinguish itself from its primary bricks and mortar competitor, Barnes & Noble, which tended to have larger stores and offer deeper discounts on books. Barnes & Noble successfully built an online operation designed to compete with Amazon.com, while Borders languished in e-commerce and at one point, used Amazon for its online fulfillment. Borders also seemed to be late in recognizing the popularity of ebooks, even as Amazon and Barnes & Noble were battling it out with their e-readers, the Kindle and nook.

In some ways, the downfall of Borders mirrors the bankruptcy of Blockbuster. This high-flying video rental chain also missed the movement of the market, clinging to in-store rentals of DVDs while the rest of the world was transitioning to online rentals and digital media.

In a changing media world, retailers have to move forward or get out of the way. Borders and Blockbuster clear did not move quickly enough.

via brandchannel.com

 

Khloe Kardashian's T-Mobile Disaster

Seriously Khloe, maybe acting just isn't your thing.

Via: AdRants

FAIL: Tickethold.com's Logo

I love when I come across major failures in the "professional" business world. I found this gem of a logo on the homepage of tickethold.com. Apparently Tickethold is my source for "Cheap Permium tickets". Umm, the "r" goes before the "e" in premium people. Not to mention the word "ticket" is the only noun not capitalized in the tagline. Oops. Tickethold generates quite a bit of traffic on their website; it's a good thing first impressions don't mean much these days. I tried to be a good Samaritan by emailing them and pointing out their obvious failure, but it probably won't do any good. If this logo passed upper management they have much bigger problems. This logo is the definition of Karma. That's what you get for contributing to the death of live music by being a shady ticket broker.