Online Reputation Management – Dunkin Donuts vs An Army of Davids
May 31, 2008
OK, before I start this, I want to make it PERFECTLY clear that with this post I am just OBSERVING and COMMENTING on the power of online media to move corporate America around almost at will right now. I am NOT taking sides in the controversy that follows. I am NOT. I AM looking at the power of the online component of public opinion and how this has affect big business in managing its online reputation.
Rachel Ray did an adviertisement for DunkinDonuts where she appears, holding a cup of their iced coffee. Her wardrobe (by all accounts professionally chosen and NOT chosen by her) included a black and white scarf similar to ones worn by Palestinians. This was noted by a blog LittleGreenFootballs and soon it was “on”. The rest of the story is recounted here in the New York Times.
I thought there were 3 interesting points from this story and its ocverage in the news:
1) As the Times noted, corporate America seems to react very quickly to pain and kill these stories off with dispatch. Much easier to re-shoot a different ad than to be controversial. I am not sure that I agree with that 100%. Maybe it’s easier, but is it better. In my opinion, Dunkin donuts and Rachel Ray could have actually parleyed this into even more exposure and THEN cleaned it up.
2) As Bob Parsons of GoDaddy noted in the Times…one of the ways of knowing that your advertising is working is when it offends some people. I agree with that point 100%.
3) But the most important takeaway is that the interactive nature of the web tends to create the EXACT effect that Glenn Reynolds was referring to in his book, An Army of Davids. Bloggers, social media types and others from the web world now wield HUGE power to promote agendae and rally for change.
If you seek to avoid controversy, the web isn’t your kind of place. Does your business have a plan to deal with that controversy and turn it into positive exposure for your company. Do they even know what 2,500 “diggs” means?
Seriously. They should.
Spot on with your observations as usual Eric. Number 3 is right out of marketing 101 – contingency planning for controversy is an absolute must. You just never know when you’ll get under somebodies skin and you don’t want to get caught with your pants down.
Hey Benjamin- True, that. And as a kicker there are “professional contrarians and controversy starters in every industry…waiting to make it interesting! Thanks for dropping by!
I still find it so suprising how poorly that corporate america has picked up on the importance of social media and well respected bloggers. You would think after the whole “Dell Hell” thing that these guys would be working harder on managign their online rep. I think it correlates well with how so many corporations have flash based websites despite being informed by those in the SEO world that it should be HTML. It boils down to the egos of out of touch CEOs. Flash sites feel fancy and expensive thereby apealing to ones ego. This leaves marketing departments doing what sells to the company not what is best for the company.
I figure that corporate egos must prevent them from taking what goes on online serious. Other than this I don’t have a clue what they are thinking.