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Ad Age and NY Times on the Power of Twitter to Make or Break a Brand
November 17th, 2008
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by Warren Whitlock · Filed Under: Social Media
Advertising Age weighed in on the #motrinmoms incident from this weekend
“[It was] amazing to have that happen over 48 hours, on a weekend in the blogosphere,” she said. “People are now spreading around the apology; it’s such an immediate time frame.”Indeed, seven of the top 10 search returns today for “Motrin” and “headache” on Google referred to the marketing debacle.
“We now have indisputable proof that online marketing, YouTube and Twitter and all that it encompasses is meaningful and has arrived,” said Gene Grabowsk, chair of the crisis and litigation practice at Levick Strategic Communications. “We are seeing real consequences to a mistake. If [social networks] didn’t matter, you wouldn’t see this type of reaction from J&J or consumers.”
The apology on the Motrin site.. Was it enough?
Shout out to @KatjaPresnal who got here SkimBaco lifestyle brand featured on AdAge and NY Times by compiling this video of angry moms
Technorati Tags: twitter revolution, twitter power, nytimes, adage, motrin, motrinmoms
Did anyone have any doubt. I don’t think Obama would have been elected without this type media. It’s a wake up call to all advertisers & PR people. If they aren’t making use of this media they aren’t making it.
So, has Motrin gotten itself a twitter name yet and commented on twitter? Do they have a Facebook fan page devoted to Moms to let them voice their comments and make suggestions about the next ad campaign and how the mom group would like Motrin to portray them? Have they commented on any of the bloggers blogs? How about any of the other old media companies? Have they joined any social media forums? Am I missing something or is issuing an apology is the medium they’ve used old school? Seems to me if you make a constituency angry, you might try using their language to apologize. When is the tipping point? Hmmm, might we be tipping the scale a bit today? I’m a mom and a blogger (not so much a mommy blogger as I don’t write about parenting issues). However, I wasn’t offended by their ad. I am, however, fascinated, by this case study of social media and how it so exemplifies the power of this new medium.
Angie
Founder, Six Figure Mom Club
http://twitter.com/aaswartz
[...] I watched this topic trend upward until Motrin responded, my first thought was not “the power of Twitter.” In fact, my first thought was how much money Motrin saved by the near instant feedback to [...]
This is so true. I just watched a Toronto Restaurant get shut down due to rats and how social media reacted…. you can read my post on it here…http://www.restaurantjobboard.com/blog/?p=26 – It’s titled “Watch out! Your Customers Are Filming You”. With the way cell phones work and the social sites like twitter, facebook, etc. the word spread fast. You just proved in the above post that even the “big boys” can not escape the power of these social sites.
[...] Ad Age and NY Times on the Power of Twitter to Make or Break a Brand Advertising Age weighed in on the #motrinmoms incident from this weekend “[It was] amazing to have that happen over 48 hours, on a weekend in the blogosphere,” she said. “People are now spreading around the apology; it’s such an immediate time frame.” Indeed, seven of the top 10 search returns today for “Motrin” and “headache”… [...]
Unfortunately, the speed with which these “news items” are spread is leading to another problem — incorrectly damaging a reputation either intentionally or by accident. When a Twitter gets posted, it can be retweeted with astonishing speed. I wonder how many people check the story before they pass it on. I saw this happen with Twitterank – the rumor (incorrect) that it was a phishing site was spread as quickly as the original announcement that it was available and the phishing rumor messages were still being posted many days after the rumor had been quashed.
Just as with the motrin issue, no one seems to know where these messages begin. Some tweeters posted suggestions that the ruckus was much too big for the situation and that the “angry” posts had originated with motrin marketers. Such a technique would be another set of ethical questions for which we have no answers or clear guidelines.
@aaswartz Your interest in the story is just like mine. While it’s easy to see the offensiveness, one doesn’t have to be “offended” to see that it caused an uproar.
Got to wonder what would have happened if Motrin social media were active. My guess is that every smart company is asking the same thing when they hear about this.. and we’ll have many more social media initiatives coming.
We’re just getting started
@AJ learning where it starts and answering ethical questions are tradition reactions, but as you point out. There is no time today to worry about what “should” happen in these cases. Companies are either prepared or not, and what they say and do will instantly be noticed.
Propaganda campaigns have worked for Centuries. No doubt there will be similar campaigns on social media.