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Do Not Attempt Bad PR At Home
In this episode, Mark Mathis talks about why organizations shouldn’t joke about their brand.
Featuring:
Mark Mathis
Mark Mathis is Chief Creative and Strategy Officer. Transcription:
Mark Mathis: This is the One Minute Marketer. I'm Mark Mathis, Creative Director at Amperage Marketing and Fundraising.
And I've been thinking about jokes and brands. I distanced this podcast as far from April 1st as possible. And this podcast comes with a slight warning. Do not attempt bad PR at home. You can read about public relations. You can go to school for public relations. You can attend public relations conferences.
But experience should always trump the efforts to learn PR. Here's what experience has taught me. Don't ever do an April Fools spoof with your brand. Volkswagen, tried it in a big failure. On Monday, March 29th, days before April fools, the car manufacturer posted an announcement online that it was renaming the company voltswagon as in V-O-L-T-S. Voltswagen. Then on the 30th. It quickly recanted the story that it had released. A company spokesman said that the name change was originally meant to be an early April Fool's Day stunt to promote the automakers electric vehicles. The problem with stunts like this is that social media can react quickly. And not always in the way you planned. The problem is everyone took it seriously creating confusion about the company's intentions and actually moving the share price, putting the VW's communications team on defense. The real problem was that people liked the new name. Which was not their intent. Your brand is a serious marketing tool.
Put on safety glasses and protective gloves and work to enhance your brand. The smart marketer never jokes with their brand. It has a real shot of backfiring, no matter how funny it seems in the boardroom.
Well, that's the One Minute Marketer, my special, thanks to audio engineer, Bill Klaproth. If you like this marketing thinking and strategy, reach out to us on amperagemarketing.com. We'll move the needle for you. Thank you so much.
Mark Mathis: This is the One Minute Marketer. I'm Mark Mathis, Creative Director at Amperage Marketing and Fundraising.
And I've been thinking about jokes and brands. I distanced this podcast as far from April 1st as possible. And this podcast comes with a slight warning. Do not attempt bad PR at home. You can read about public relations. You can go to school for public relations. You can attend public relations conferences.
But experience should always trump the efforts to learn PR. Here's what experience has taught me. Don't ever do an April Fools spoof with your brand. Volkswagen, tried it in a big failure. On Monday, March 29th, days before April fools, the car manufacturer posted an announcement online that it was renaming the company voltswagon as in V-O-L-T-S. Voltswagen. Then on the 30th. It quickly recanted the story that it had released. A company spokesman said that the name change was originally meant to be an early April Fool's Day stunt to promote the automakers electric vehicles. The problem with stunts like this is that social media can react quickly. And not always in the way you planned. The problem is everyone took it seriously creating confusion about the company's intentions and actually moving the share price, putting the VW's communications team on defense. The real problem was that people liked the new name. Which was not their intent. Your brand is a serious marketing tool.
Put on safety glasses and protective gloves and work to enhance your brand. The smart marketer never jokes with their brand. It has a real shot of backfiring, no matter how funny it seems in the boardroom.
Well, that's the One Minute Marketer, my special, thanks to audio engineer, Bill Klaproth. If you like this marketing thinking and strategy, reach out to us on amperagemarketing.com. We'll move the needle for you. Thank you so much.