Social shaming is becoming a bit of a problem for brands. They struggle with the question: how can you stop people from expressing themselves on social media? The answer: you can’t. Clear communication, excellent levels of customer service and a cohort of loyal brand advocates are really the only defence for brands. What is social [...]
It’s almost Christmas, or very nearly the end of the world, depending on your view, and so I wanted to share this great story reported on adage. Toy maker, Hasbro, is getting ready to bring out a range of gender-neutral colours of its Easy-Bake Oven, all because a teenager wanted to get her brother one. [...]
Maybe you have a fantastic creative idea for a campaign, something that reflects your brand ethos, something that will really get fans involved. Great! But first, it’s best to check a few things, such as: is there a danger of the campaign offending too many people, and is the brand under attack from special interest [...]
This month, we look at coffee, planes, shopping and…bum parties?! Would you like corporation tax with that? Starbucks found itself in hot water this November (along with Amazon and Google), after the companies were invited to be grilled by the Public Accounts Committee about their corporation tax payments (or lack thereof). Now, many arguments have [...]
An Unexpected Journey Ah, Apple. How I love your shiny, money-burning gadgets. How I fervently covert all the iPads and the MacBooks that I see flashed around by the cool crowd who are probably even now wondering, did she just make a Hobbit reference in this blog post? Yes. Yes I did. Anyway, über cool [...]
July was a monumental month of failure, with brands tripping over themselves to dis-please. Over in the UK we had the pleasure of Barclays, and its Facebook campaign featuring hapless Dan clashing mightily with its rate adjustment scandal. Then there’s fashion site Celeb Boutique not checking hashtags before tweeting, and therefore thinking that when #Aurora [...]
Clearly, I’ve missed out on some big language revolution here. Do grown women really use words like FrooFroo, noonoo and lala when talking about their genitalia? Femfresh seems to think so. Now, personally, I don’t find the brand’s choice of language offensive, I just think it’s a bit stupid. I did, however, find some of [...]
Earlier this month, the FT reported that social media has overtaken directory advertising for small businesses to market themselves. We’ve started working with a number of SMEs on creating ‘social content’ – content that can be shared across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, and their own websites. Small businesses have always been more able to adapt [...]
