Category Archives: Business

Hubris and “social media fail” on menu at Amy’s Baking Company

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Gerry

Scratching my head on this one at HuffPost: It’s either THE best “controversy marketing” stunt designed to get the eyes of the world media on a TV show featuring an Arizonan restaurant, or it’s the biggest PR clusterfunk I’ve seen … Continue reading →

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#BoycottMyer PR disaster has Bernie on the backfoot

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Gerry

Shooting-from-the-lip Myer CEO Bernie Brookes has caused a sorta social media stink by saying that Julia Gillard’s NDIS levy will impact retail spending (sic, at his stores). While mainstream media reports mostly on the social media ‘outrage’ (see Addictomatic coverage), … Continue reading →

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Journalist asks the hard questions of 2DayFM management

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Gerry

Sitting here in the cheap seats, I’ve quietly surmised that Austereo’s handling of the abortive hoax call prank has tended more to stonewalling and message repetition that it has to genuine engagement and undertakings of remedies. Timely then that a … Continue reading →

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Social Media “Expert’s” Retarded Rant PR Disaster

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Gerry

PR disaster news from The Age (hat tip Asher Moses): “A Vodafone store employee who describes himself as the telco’s “social media expert” and “ambassador” has been deriding customers on Twitter and Facebook as “mentally retarded” and threatened them with … Continue reading →

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Latest Shell PR disaster shows ease of social media ‘brandjacking’

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Gerry

Journalist Kashmir Hill of Forbes provides a solid, informative overview of Greenpeace and Yes Men’s online attack against the Shell global brand. Yet to label the activists as pranksters perhaps diminishes the strategic creativity of Yes Men, who are long-established … Continue reading →

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PR disaster follows prehistoric email rant

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Gerry

What kind of political media and reputation adviser would pen and send an email lambasting one professional woman’s views on the lack of female representation in politics? Erm, one called Max Tomlinson would…

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Energy Watch CEO Ben Polis sacked after Facebook brainmelt

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Gerry

.The job of the modern CEO entails being a leader, a visionary, a community conduit and the epitome of company standards. Carried out professionally, the job role encompasses board support, community relations, human resources and, essentially, reputation management. Anyone posting … Continue reading →

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History repeats in Nike’s ‘Black and Tan’ PR disaster

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Gerry

It’s brand-checking 101; Google a name to see if there’s any unfortunate or unsavoury associations. But Googling names seems to have been beyond Nike’s Advertising or PR teams; now in PR trouble (as Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream had similarly … Continue reading →

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