There’s been a lot for PRs to deal with this year. Facing the good (world’s first tweeting badger), the bad (tasteless 9/11 tweets) and the ugly (horsemeat anyone?), they’ve worked around the clock to keep their brands in the news for the right reasons.
To recognise those who have put their clients before them, here’s a run-down of my very own Prime Time PR Award winners this year:
How did they do that?
Winner: UN Women
UN Women turned to Ogilvy to promote the dangers of gender inequality by taking over the world’s most popular search engine. Using predictive text, people were shown common attitudes to women to highlight the issue of discrimination.
Finalists:
1) Selfridges gives customers the silent treatment
2) Holiday Inn transforms into horror hotel for DVD launch
Better luck next time
Winner: Coca-Cola
If you open a bottle of Vitamin Water today, you’re sure of a big surprise – because you could be insulted. Blake Loates was offended by the ‘retard’ message under the bottle cap, especially because her sister has cerebral palsy and autism.
Finalists:
1) London Duck Tours’ sinking ship
2) Cineworld loses its manners
Worth every penny
Winner: Aflac
Insurance company Aflac brought its mascot to life when it let a real duck roam the streets of New York, including the subway. What’s ironic is that this campaign got meaty results by spending pence rather than pounds.
Finalists:
1) KitKat gives customers the (extra) finger
2) Twilight hotline assists heartbroken teens
So, that’s 2013. But what does next year have in store?
I asked PR and marketing specialists for their industry predictions for the coming year.
Jo Chappel, head of insight and creativity at Fever PR, has identified ‘faction’ as a future trend: “Stories that flirt between fact and fiction that intrigue and entertain consumers.”
But, Marketing Chap thinks: “More and more money will be poured into marketing technology producing more and more of the same results as always.”
I think brands will prioritise personalised content. No more blanket e-newsletters, generic tweets and products. Running forward with Coca-Cola’s personalised bottles, companies will work to reward loyalty with tailored messages. Just leave the insults out of it.
So, there you have it. The big 2013/14 review. Share the love Prime Timers, have a happy New Year and I’ll see you in January.
X-rated car advert gets tongues wagging
31 JulIt’s a brand’s worst nightmare – an advert appears in print complete with a big mistake. No, not an incorrect spelling or wrong call to action. Either of those could easily be resolved with the help of a PR agency. Car hire firm Enterprise has had to deal with something much worse: an advert in the Pembrokeshire Herald, published last week, suggested that the firm offers inappropriate sex acts for customers. See the advert here.
To add insult to injury, the advert went hand-in-hand with the company’s Twitter launch. Although, this might be its saving grace. When the incident was spotted yesterday, Enterprise only had 61 followers – all of which were told that the service is ‘not offered at any of its branches.’
Twenty-four hours later that number has only risen by 13 – and the brand has responded to everyone that commented offering its single crisis-management message.
Of course, it’s not like the age old saying ‘if a tree falls in a forest and no-one’s there does it make a sound?’ Customers – existing and potential – are likely to hear about this via social networks or friends (the Mirror has already published the story too) But, when it comes to Twitter, I think people are less likely to get involved if they don’t think they can directly link with the brand. After all, that’s one big reason we make comments online isn’t it? To humiliate, complain or praise companies that we’re engaging with. The fact that few people knew about Enterprise’s Twitter page at that time has curbed the majority of comments.
I think the brand handled the process well. Although, I’d have suggested that they tailored their responses to show personality and a sense of humour. After all, the advert is clearly a joke.
At the time of writing this, I asked the Pembrokeshire Herald what its thoughts were and whether the error was from their side. According to reports they maintain the artwork was tampered with after it’d been signed off – and other brands were affected.
Surely, Enterprise will want an apology from the team if it was the paper’s fault – not to mention free advertising space to overright the problem.
However it progresses, this faux pas has certainly worked in Enterprise’s favour – in terms of PR and talkability. After reading this article how many hire car companies can you really think of?
Share the news:
Like this:
Tags: action, acts, advert, agency, artwork, branch, brand, Call, car, comment, company, complain, crisis, customer, digital, Enterprise, follower, Herald, hire, humiliate, humour, incorrect, injury, joke, manage, media, message, Mirror, mistake, newspaper, nightmare, online, Pembrokeshire, personality, phrase, PR, praise, print, publish, rent, saying, service, sexual, social network, spelling, talk, tamper, tree, Twitter, vehicle