A Cautionary Tale…
Written by Neil Kelley on Monday 5th July 2010 at 9:34 am
Digital Media, whatever we think of it – it has begun to pervade everything… everywhere.
Politicians are using it, teachers, whole industries, the public, employers and… the crux of this little blog – employees. The fact that employees can reach millions of people who are connected to the internet through whatever platform in an instant and with no organisational control over content has, on occasion, created some PR faux pas for both brand and organisation.
Take Domino’s for example. A video recorded on a mobile phone by two employees and posted on YouTube was picked up on by AdvertisingAge, and then more were found and reposted by goodasyou.org. Anyone with a weak stomach, or a fondness for pizza, should not watch these videos – seriously. Needless to say the video went viral and over 750,000 views were logged in the first day after a number of news and blogging sites picked up on the story and – BANG – the brand reputation is damaged. The spokesman for Domino’s at the time said that “Any idiot with a webcam and an internet connection can attempt to undo all that’s right about the brand. In the course of one three-minute video, two idiots can attempt to unravel all of that”.
It’s not just Domino’s, it happened to NG Bailey in the UK, and it cost them a 30 year relationship with a major supermarket chain. A group of policemen in Oxford took advantage of the snow in January of this year, using riot shields as sledges, filmed it on a mobile phone and posted it on YouTube, which gathered major press coverage, embarrassed the officers and forced senior staff to apologise profusely the UK taxpayers.
In a previous blog piece I briefly considered the impact (both positive and negative) that User Generated Content can have for organisations – with a specific focus on the consumer. Here we have a similar problem, more User Generated Content, linked directly to specific organisations, but this time from the employees. Digital Media can have catastrophic impacts for organisations, if they’re run badly or recruit badly, and Digital Media isn’t going to go away. So, perhaps organisations still need to start with the basics of a positive working culture, educating and training staff and remembering that as an organisation you’re now more visible to stakeholders than you ever were.
Tags: brand, digital, Mobile, pr, youtube
Leave a comment
Category: Branding, Emerging Trends, Marketing, Mobile, Online Public Relations
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
No comments yet.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
CAMDigital
Nana Kwami
