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Subway’s Discrimination Problem: A Good Case for Updated Brand Guidelines

February 19, 2013 By 2 Comments

Screen shot 2013-02-18 at 4.56.45 PMOne of the greatest concerns of franchise business models is how trouble caused by one owner/operator can damage other locations nearby or the brand image as a whole.

Subway saw this over the Valentine’s Day weekend when the owner of a Subway shop in Angers, France decided – on his own – to discriminate against same sex couples when he launched a Valentine’s Day special available only to straights.

Citing the current status of gay marriage in France, the franchise owner defended his actions and invoked his freedom of expression in a note beneath the sandwich deal.

“Discrimination: No, the marriage for all law has advanced, but has yet to be ratified by the Senate. Until then, I’ll use my freedom of expression.” (Click over to French-language website Eteignez Votre Ordinateur to view images of the poster.)

According to French newspaper the Liberation, Subway’s corporate offices intervened after photos of the offer were widely circulated on social media, and the restaurant was swiftly closed Friday. In a statement released the same day, Subway France apologized and noted that franchise locations are managed independently. Following an influx of negative comments, Subway France also successfully took to Twitter to address concerns and apologized for the discriminatory special in a post on its Facebook page Saturday morning, writing:

The SUBWAY brand is strongly committed to maintaining the values ​​of diversity and inclusiveness in its restaurants around the world and does not endorse in any discrimination of any kind.We apologize to all those people who felt offended by the individual promotional initiative for Valentine’s Day of a restaurant in Angers, France.

Unfortunately, the discrimination of one owner impacted other owner/operators in France. Angers-area Subway restaurant also felt the blowback despite having nothing to do with the offense, French-language publication Ouest-France reports. Following an influx of “hateful and virulent” comments, the franchise location was forced to close its Facebook page and issue a press release, denouncing any association with the other Angers Subway that offered the heterosexuals-only deal.

While France is on its way to legalizing gay marriage, following the passage of the bill in the National Assembly Tuesday, the legislation must also be ratified by the Senate before the law can take effect. The marriage for all bill, which was first introduced in October, will go before the upper house of French Parliament on April 2, and is expected to pass.

This marks yet another example of why brands – especially franchise models – need clear social media and brand guidelines for all their owner/operators. While it is necessary to give  some promotional leeway so operators can engage in community-specific programs and tailor their marketing efforts to their location, everything the individual operators do impacts the brand as a whole. So, if you haven’t updated your branding, marketing and social media guidelines to fit current trends, tools, tactics, risks and the changing zeitgeist, you may want to do so.

Filed Under: Consumer Products, Crisis Communications, Digital Media, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Good PR Comes From Good Citizenship

September 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

Today’s topic is proof that good PR need not be complicated.

There is photo going around Facebook that shows a sign on the door of Plaza Cleaners in Portland, OR which reads: If you are unemployed and need an outfit cleaned for an interview, we will clean it for free. 

Call it brilliant PR. Call it a clever customer loyalty program. Call it a sign that all is not lost for humanity in this dog-eat-dog world. No matter the name, it is simplicity at its finest.

This local act of kindness has given a small, independently-owned cleaners national visibility and made them a local legend. Their Facebook fans have grown by more than 300%. Local media have spotlighted their offer. I’m all the way on the other side of this continent and I am blogging about it.

But, the best part is what a friend of mine said on Facebook when I posted the photo, “When those people get employed they will give that dry cleaner their business going forward and they’ll refer their friends to them.”

A lot of times we get lost in our big fancy ideas for community engagement, publicity stunts and loyalty programs. But the truth is, the simplest idea that makes a real, tangible difference in someone’s life is usually the best way to build brand loyalty.

Good for you Plaza Cleaners. And, thanks for restoring my faith in humanity.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Marketing, Public Relations Tagged With: , , , , ,

Romney’s #AreYouBetterOff Hashtag Backfires

September 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There is always a big risk when you hang your promotional hat on a paid-for hashtag.

McDonald’s learned that lesson earlier this year when they asked Tweeps to share their stories to #McDStories. Negative tweets about the fast food chain took over the interwebs ranging from comments about being high while eating McDonald’s to throwing up the food, prompting the New York Observer to remark that “some stories are better left untold.”

Wendy’s fell into the same trap last year, paying for the exclusive use of #HeresTheBeef. I will just let you imagine what Tweets that hashtag prompted.

Well, it seems The Campaign to elect Governor Romney didn’t get the memo. After paying $120,000 PER DAY for the use of #AreYouBetterOff, the GOP was clearly expecting a resounding “no” from Twitterers to support their campaign message that President Obama has not improved the economy.

Instead, #areyoubetteroff was combined with the word “yes” more than 1,800 times in its first 24 hours, while it was only paired with “no” around 600 times during the same time period.

And, since then, the yes/no ratio has been an embarrassing 5 to 1.

To make matters worse for the Romney campaign, their original hashtag has already spawned rebuttal hashtags like #iambetteroff and#betteroff which, as you can imagine, are full of examples of how Americans say they are better off and how they imagine they’d be worse off under a Romney/Ryan presidency.

It’s important to remember social media is not a controlled environment. It’s the wild west and open-ended questions can really bring trouble. It’s best to think like a trial attorney when creating your hashtag strategy and never ask a question unless you absolutely know what everyone’s answer will actually be.

Filed Under: Digital Media, Marketing, PR Blunders, Public Relations, Social Media, Youth Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Cult of Celebrity & How to Become One Overnight

August 27, 2012 By 1 Comment

Today, I came across a stunt that perfectly sums up the cult of celebrity in today’s society.

A regular average, unknown guy named Brett Cohen walks the streets of New York City in total obscurity every day. Until, one day when he slapped on some shades and pulled together a team of “bodyguards” and “assistants” – along with some “paparazzi” – to follow him around.

Suddenly, Brett was surrounded by his adoring fans. Yep, you read that right, his FANS.

People posed for photos with him. Girls gave him their phone numbers and guys lined up to shake his hand while others screamed and shouted and chased after him. One of his friends, posing as a reporter, asked people what they think of Brett’s acting or his music … he changed it up with each “fan.”

One guy said he loved Brett’s acting in Spiderman and thinks “he is a really good actor.”

Another guy “heard his first single, which is good.” He can’t remember the name of the song, but he “heard it on the radio.”

When a gaggle of giggling girls is asked what it was like meeting Brett, they shout, “it is the best day of my life!” and “I love him!”

Another guy thinks Brett is “excellent, awesome and has a great future in the movie business,” he goes on to say he “feels special after having taken a picture with him.”

Doesn’t that quote sum it up so perfectly? We everyday, average people want to much to feel special that we will take a photo with someone we think is famous just in the hope that their specialness will rub off on us.

And, as the crowd grows to hundreds of very excited fans, it’s clear that real paparazzi and media have joined in the fun. (article continues below)

The video gloriously ends with Brett, sans entourage, removing his sunglasses and walking in complete anonymity down the street and into the subway.

Brett’s stunt not only cracked me up (and gave me an idea for a PR stunt), but it also really does shine a massive spotlight on what celebrity really is these days and how little it takes to achieve it.

Paris and Kim long ago proved it’s unnecessary to have a craft or make a tangible contribution to achieve fame. But the most surreal part of this whole stunt is that because more than 2 million people have viewed and shared Brett’s video on YouTube in the past five days, he now actually is a bit of a celebrity. Everyone from the Huffington Post to ABC News has picked up the story and Brett is now being followed by actual paparazzi when he walks down the street.

So, will this be the new kind of “famous for being famous” model? I don’t know. But, it’s certainly more compelling and creative than a sex tape.

Filed Under: Consumer Habits, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Viral Marketing, Youth Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Chick-Fil-A (Maybe) Faking Facebook Support For Muppet Lie

July 26, 2012 By 3 Comments

The fried chicken fast food chain, Chick-Fil-A has been getting a lot of  bad press after announcing their negative position on LGBT rights in the States and their troubles seem to be growing, by their own hand.

In case you’ve missed it, the president of the chicken chain announced that the company is against gay marriage and supports only what they call “the biblical definition of the family unit.”

Since that announcement last week, the chain has seen supporters defending the company’s freedom of speech to “defend traditional marriage” and opponents defending their freedom of speech to boycott the brand for denying basic civil rights for all.

The debate has taken an interesting turn with some very poor PR from the restaurant brand.

Earlier this week the Jim Henson Company pulled all Muppet toys from Chick-Fil-A in an official response to the chain’s anti-gay stance.

And, now, it seems Chick-Fil-A is pretending the toys were dangerous and the fast-food chain chose to recall the Muppet products to protect the safety of their customers.

Signs have been placed in the restaurants stating:

“We apologize for any inconvenience but as of 7/19/2012 Chick-fil-A has voluntarily recalled all of the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Puppet Kids Meal Toys due to a possible safety issue. Please be advised that there have not been any cases in which a child has actually been injured, however there have been some reports of children getting their fingers stuck in the holes of the puppets.”

Chick-Fil-A spokeswoman Tiffany Greenway told The Huffington Post that the company had decided to recall the Muppets toys nationwide, as of July 19, “for the protection of our customers.” She said it was a decision completely separate from the Jim Henson Company’s Facebook announcement.

Ummmm. Okay. Not a single report of injuries but this was done for the “protection of customers.” It’s a wonder Ms. Greenway’s pants haven’t caught fire yet with that one.

Honestly, this is just poor PR because all it does it make the brand seem spiteful at best and liars at worst.

But, it doesn’t stop there, it seems Chick-Fil-A may have been propagating that lie with fake Facebook accounts pretending to be Chick-fil-a sympathists.

According to Gizmodo: Yep, Chick-fil-A is still stuck in its own reality and is doubling down on its lie. Instead of owning up to the fact that The Jim Henson Company stopped doing business with them because they’re overrun with bigots, the chicken sandwich company appears to have made fake Facebook accounts to defend its honor on the social network. How do we know the accounts are fake? Just check out this back and forth on Chick-fil-A’s Facebook page between real, breathing people and “Abby Farle”, a Facebook account that was made 8 hours ago by a chicken PR flack with a stock image of a teenage girl as her profile picture:

Now, far be it from me to defend Chick-Fil-A here. Clearly they are lying about the Muppet toy removal, but I do think it should be stated that although it’s obvious this “Abby Farle” is fake, we do not know with absolute certainty that the chicken chain or their PR peeps are behind the fake posts.

But, whoever is behind it certainly has no clue about social media or how to manage a PR situation because this is just fanning the flames and giving opponents more fodder to showcase Chick-Fil-A’s obstinate refusal to admit the truth of the toy removal.

Filed Under: Crisis Communications, Digital Media, Marketing, PR Blunders, Public Relations, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,
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