Pop a Soother at your next rave

I came across this campaign yesterday and was little disturbed by it.

It is a pop-up concert series that appears to be a collaboration between Nova & Soothers.

Now, I understand that Soothers must be trying to appeal to a younger audience and that they've found a need amongst this target for the product BUT, I also think there is a disconnect between the product and the space they are playing in.

I feel like Soothers are taking too big a leap of faith in jumping into the music space. My opinion on brands employing music as a communications territory and then social media as a comms channel is that they need to do it properley or they shouldn't do it at all. It feels like a stretch to be putting a brand that is all about coughs & colds into a youth oriented space.

I would actually argue that this will diminish the brands credibility as a medicated lozenger and their appeal amongst the younger generation will be as a confectionary not as a solution to sore throats.

This of course depends on whether or not they hit some decent numbers. At the moment, they've only got 92 friends on MySpace.

The Domino Effect

I'm not sure who has heard about the Domino's fisaco in the US but basically, two uninspired employees recorded themselves adding un-sanctioned ingredients to their customer's orders. Then, posted the video on Youtube.

It has prompted a bit of discussion around how the corporation has, should or could have dealt with the PR nightmare that has ensued.

Joseph Jaffe made a great statement in response to it: Marketers need to understand that when a blogger hits the publish button, they are essentially "contacting" the brand for a response, albeit indirectly.

This provoked a numgber of thoughts for me:

1. The complaints department must emerge from their box

Before it was easy to jump upon your online soap-box and complain about a brand or service, consumers were forced to make direct complaints at the site of the problem. Consumers would physically hold the face of the brand to ransom (think a 15 y.o. check-out chick taking the blame for an open pack of flour) . Now, with the physical barriers removed, confrontation is somewhat...well, less confronting. Anyone can have a say and satisfy their craving to effect change (even if the change isn't realised).

Brands have long had 'complaints' departments and strategies to deal with unsatisfied consumers but in the age of conversation they have failed to evolve and seem to respond to complaints in an old-fashioned manner albeit via 'new media'.

2. A policy for dealing with complaints must be malleable

I would argue that prevention is better than a cure and recognising the types of crisis' that will organically spread amongst consumers is an under-valued talent. Without a listening strategy brands leave themselves open to responding to the people who they think matter (ie influentials) rather than those that do matter (those that the influentials identify).