The marketplace of today is always go go go and companies are always concerned about their brand. In the past companies relied on more traditional advertising, but things are changing drastically and companies must be ready to reaft at lightening speed.
Take for example Domino’s and the videos that were recently surfaced on Youtube about 2 staff members doing inappropriate things to food items while they prepared food for customers. In the past a story like this would have broken on the TV and if people did not get a chance to see it they would have had a much easier time cleaning up the bad press. Now people are taking video clips of everything and sharing them on many different socail network sites, like YouTube. The staff members that did these acts posted their videos on YouTube, and they were sent like wildfire all over the internet. I got emails, and Tweets about them and had already seen the videos 12+ hours before there even made headlines on the traditional TV media programs.
So now that the videos are surfaced on the internet and starting to spread like a plague, it is time for Domino’s to kick it into high gear. They are on a Social Media frenzy campaign to try and get the word out that they do not condone these types of actions. Word of mouth is a very powerful thing and companies need to recognize that they need to stay tuned into what their brands are doing each and every minute to avoid potential brand crushing situations.
They have released a video from the president of the company apologizing for all fo the things that the staff members did in the video, which while the video was a great step, they should have not had him reading a script. In Social Media there is a big push to be authentic, and not scripted and corporate. Had he actually did a candid apology looking straight into the camera, the video would have been more compelling and sincere.
Making a video with positive spin is not always enough though. In more cases then not a positive reply from a company does not draw anywhere near as much traffic as the original video in question. In these situations company’s need to put the full court press in all of their customer service and PR campaigns to reach as many customers and reassure them they have their best interest at heart.
So the jury is still out on how bad these videos have hurt the Domino’s brand, but one thing is for sure. Good News, as well as bad news travels a whole lot faster in this new age of Social Media.
Be Well
Frank
