Burger King Pokes the Competition With New Promotion
In recent years, fast food brands have been frantically jockeying for position in a consumer market that is showing more of a taste for tacos and “fast casual” dining, in lieu of fast food burgers and fries. Wendy’s has grabbed market share with witty social media campaigns and well-managed messaging around their “fresh never frozen” message. Meanwhile, McDonald’s, after earning some negative headlines for parting ways with the Olympics, has been gaining ground by promoting their fresh, not frozen, Quarter Pounder. Sure, the company got some snide social media commentary from Wendy’s about the “never frozen” announcement, but it’s been a winner so far.
Read MoreVictoria’s Secret Fashion Show Ratings Fall in Wake of Bad Press
Recently, cultural news program 1A on National Public Radio devoted at least an hour-long segment, essentially, to arguing that the Victoria’s Secret fashion show is not a good look. The arguments made both by guests and by callers and posters on social media touched on the style of the garments, the look of the models, the quality of the products, and the expectations consumers feel when they see a standard Victoria’s Secret advertisement, even one as slickly produced as the fashion show. In the same segment, guests and callers frequently and loudly promoted VS competitors that are considered, especially by Millennials, to be both more socially conscious and “woke” to socio-cultural trends.
Read MoreLion Air Crash leads to PR stumbling block for Boeing
On 29 October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 was scheduled to fly from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang in Indonesia. However, tragedy hit 13 minutes after take off with the flight crashing in the Java Sea, northeast of Jakarta. None of the passengers or crew on board survived. The aircraft was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, and the incident was the first major accident involving the 737 MAX and the deadliest involving the 737 aircraft, resulting in both engineering and public relations challenges for Boeing and its executive team.
Read MoreNFL Found the Secret to Revival: Touchdowns
For two years, the most popular, and one of the most profitable, programs on television suffered an ongoing consumer PR crisis. The NFL just couldn’t seem to get out of its own way. From Roger Goodell being booed during televised draft programs to the exodus of fans from live games and TV viewing, the NFL struggled to find solutions to their nagging troubles. The issues, from the fans’ perspectives, were many: the deaths of legendary players from brain disease, unpopular rule changes, the anthem scandal, the so-called “coddling” of quarterbacks, and the off-the-field issues of well-paid players committing violent crimes and seeming to receive relative slaps on the wrist. As of this writing, it was announced a player accused not…
Read MoreDutch Rail Company Announces Reparations
What do you do when your brand is directly associated with unimaginable horror? Some wounds don’t heal, and some stigmas are not easy to wash away, but, sometimes, it’s still the moral thing to do to make an effort to take responsibility. This scenario was illustrated recently when the Dutch national railway company announced it would be setting up a commission to “investigate how to pay individual reparations” related to the railway’s role in deporting Jews during World War II. The company released a public statement calling its role in the mass deportation, ordered by the Nazi occupation force, “a black page in the history of our country and our company…”
Read MoreGold Medalist Offers Mea Culpa for Halloween Costume
Listen, in case you have never heard this before, the Internet is forever… and it’s not very forgiving. You can be a hero today, but mess up once on Twitter, and you may find yourself apologizing for weeks… if you can manage to salvage your career at all.
Read MoreVictoria’s Secret May Have a Generational PR Problem
Not that long ago, from a branding perspective, Victoria’s Secret practically owned the lingerie market. Even today, if you ask anyone over 40 to name a national lingerie brand, the majority will get to Victoria’s Secret quickly. But, as with many other established brands in many other markets, young people are trending away from this clothing brand.
Read MoreHarley Having to Answer for Yet Another Recall
For every automotive manufacturer, recalls will happen. Each one is an opportunity for effective, ineffective, or disastrous public relations. Most people will remember the GM consumer PR disaster in which the company held off on recalling parts that some later reported they knew could be defective. Those defects caused deaths and proved to be a major PR scandal for the company. Then there was the Takata airbag PR nightmare, in which it was shown that the life-saving devices may be defective on many different models across a variety of different manufacturers. The scandal rocked the company, causing serious, permanent ramifications.
Read MoreStarbucks Offers Double Shot of Holiday Cups
Remember “Cupgate” a few years ago? When Starbucks tried to go minimalist on their traditional holiday-themed cups, some people were fighting mad. Then there was last year’s cups, which invited customers to draw on them in order to “to create a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity…” Once again, fury erupted in some quarters, leaving Starbucks to defend their aesthetic choices. While that upset passed quickly each time, leaving a general feeling of silliness about the whole episode, Starbucks has clearly not forgotten.
Read MoreWhite Castle teams up with Wu-Tang Clan to promote its new slider
In it’s new promotional stunt, White Castle has teamed up with hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan to create a four-part online series called “Wu Tang in Space Eating Impossible Sliders”. The series is an attempt to promote the fast-food chain’s new addition to its menu – the Impossible Slider, a plant-based burger.
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