Marketing Weasel

How Not To Handle A PR Crisis

Steve Rubell at the Micropersuasion PR blog is covering a major crisis at Kryptonite Lock. Seems their suppposedly unbreakable locks can be broken with a cheap pen. Oops.

So how do they handle the mounting crisis? Step up to the plate and tell everyone they can trade in their $100 locks for free replacement? That a fix will be ready in 2 weeks? Send out a warning to their customers? Uh, no.

Engadget is running Kryptonite's response, which includes a "not sure" on the loss coverage they use a reason to charge so much for their locks. These guys need to get a clue -- there are several different companies that are looking for our hard-earned money in exchange for some protection for our wheels.

Also of note is the fact that this story started on the blogs and quickly moved to the mainstream press. It's critical for companies to follow the blogs (or pay the price).

When Promotions Go Too Well

Circuit City launched their new Web site and sent out a ton of e-mails with a sweepstakes promo code. Sounds like a great idea, eh? Well, something went wrong, and when you visit their site to check your prize code, you get this message:

Due to an overwhelming response to our sweepstakes, we are currently having technical difficulties with our entry forms. We're working to correct the problem, and we're sorry for the inconvenience.

Please try to enter again tomorrow. And while you're here, check out the rest of our site and see all the new, easy ways to shop.

Looks like this promo was a bit more popular than they expected, eh? The bad news about this situation is that you piss off a bunch of people, but the good news is that they were prepared enough to post this message, instead of an error (or worse, no feedback). Reminds me of my Boy Scout days.... Somebody moved quickly at Circuit City.

Photoshop'd Vintage Ads for New Products

Boing Boing turned me on to an amazing collection of Photoshop'd antique ads that now promote modern products. Some of them are awesome -- the ads are better than the current promos for these products.

Worth 100.com's "Are You Worthy" Contest.

Cool Ads Don't Pay The Bills

Business 2.0 has an interesting bit (subscription required) about the Six Flags dancing senior citizen:

But artistic merits don't pay the bills, and in dollars-and-cents terms, the estimated $15 million campaign isn't scoring well at all: Attendance at the company's 31 theme parks fell 4 percent for the first half of 2004. Instead of shelling out for ads, perhaps Six Flags should have taken a cue from rivals Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and NBC Universal, which spent more money on new rides and were rewarded at the turnstiles.

It could also be the long lines I waited in 4 years ago on a hot summer day -- I haven't been back.

Comment & Trackback Spam SUCK

If you run a blog, no doubt you've been hit with trackback or comment spam. These idiots should be shot. I run my sites on TypePad and SixApart seems to have it under control for us, but Moveable Type users are getting slammed.

A buddy of mine, Ryan Saghir, has written some code to help Moveable Type customers with the problem. I think his solution rocks. Check it out at: http://www.ryansaghir.com/archives/000117.html.

When Cows Blog: Is This The End of Blogging?

When I got my yogurt (organic strawberry, thanks for asking) this morning the lid had a picture of a cow blogging. I remember seeing the DotComGuy (who is selling his name on eBay now) and realizing that the "dot com" craze was running amok. I fear the same for blogging after seeing a cow blogging.

Stonyfield Farms is running several "Cowblogs" at http://www.stonyfield.com/weblog/, and some of them are actually funny.

A sample post from the "Daily Scoop" blog (a nice mix of humor and product promotion):

Our Smoothies win in "The Munchies"

Okay, we’re not really advocating this, but we were pleased in June when Men’s Health magazine nominated our Smoothies as among the “Best Stand-Ins for a Square Meal” in its 2004 Munchie Awards. The article focuses on what’s best to eat if you’re a guy and eating packaged foods on the run. Awards went to foods which offered good fats, protein and complex carbohydrates. Psssst: Beer is no where on the list.

This is their introduction to Weblogs:

What is a blog? No, it's not a sound a cow makes. It's a Web log. A daily diary. A journal. An online, on-going chat. A chance for you to look inside Stonyfield and get to know us, and us to know you.

These guys get it. This is one of the best definitions of blogging I've seen, and it comes from dairy farmers.

Republican Party Bribes Webmasters

Seth Godin blogged about the Republican Party offering 30% to Webmasters on all donations brought in from their visitors:

The Republican Party just announced that it’s paying a 30% commission to anyone with a website who collects money on their behalf. That sort of tactic used to be reserved for fledgling startups or small grassroots organizations.

Being a "doubting thomas" (my middle name really is Thomas) I had a hard time believing Seth until I saw this in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/12/business/12rnc.html (free registration required). The NY Times had this to say about it:

The program is open to operators of Web sites registered at Commission Junction, a technology company that helps advertisers reach Web page publishers. The committee will pay Web sites amounts equal to 30 percent of the donations they raise as a commission, according to Commission Junction's Web site.

From what I understand of organized fundraising is that it's an expensive proposition, costing as much as 80% of what they raise. Don't believe me? Next time someone calls asking from money ask them what percentage of the money actually goes to the charity. They are required to tell you, and I'm sure you'll be surprised by the answer. Based on this, 30% is a reasonable amount to bribe, er, pay webmasters.

Since most Republicans are weasels (I'm a Republican) they will flock to a site like this... You can bet that I'll be signing up for this program.

Beer Battles: Budweiser Screws Up

Time Magazine is running a great story on the nasty beer battle between Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller. It's a great read, even if you don't drink. SABMiller, number 2 (Miller, Miller Lite) with no hopes of ever beating Bud, has nothing to lose by pissing them off, and winds up getting free advertising when Anheuser-Bush acknowledges the existence of SABMiller. WHEN YOU ARE NUMBER ONE IN A MARKET NEVER, EVER, TALK ABOUT ANYONE ELSE. THEY WIN. This is the second time they've done it (they fought with Sam Adams a while back), and you would think they would be a bit smarter by now. Yeesh. This is like MacDonald's fighting with Burger King. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Molson Beer Gets You Laid

I heard Molson's latest radio commercial and it was a direct pitch for getting a girl drunk so she'll be more than your "friend." They should be given the 2004 "Honesty in Advertising" award for stating the only reason we'd waste a perfectly good beer on a woman.

If anyone has a link to this commercial I'd love to post it.

Finally - A Food Pyramid That Won't Kill Us

It's no wonder America got fat, the government was telling us the wrong info on the famous food pyramid. It's about time somebody took a realistic look at what we should be eating (yep, it's the same things our grandparents told us!), and updated the chart for 2004. Forget what you know or think about Atkins and follow the Atkins Food Pyramid. It could save your life.