Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight
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Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight
Social marketing, PR insight & thought leadership - from The PR Coach
Curated by Jeff Domansky
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How not to apologize, by Donald Trump - without bullshit

How not to apologize, by Donald Trump - without bullshit | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Donald Trump made piggish comments about women to Billy Bush, the cohost of Access Hollywood, in 2005. NBC released the video yesterday.

 

The video makes clear that, at least in 2005, Trump considered bedding women as sort of a video game, one he plays to win with wealth and power. As Republicans began to distance themselves from the comments — and some from Trump — Trump apologized. His apology is a case study in how not to apologize.

 

Here are some qualities of sincere apologies.

- You take responsibility for what you did.

- You are specific.

- You don’t talk about how you got caught and whether that is fair.

- You apologize directly to the people you hurt

.- You find or offer ways to make amends.

- You don’t justify why what you did is ok.

- You don’t go off topic to avoid talking about what happened.

 

Trump’s apology fails on every single element....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

PR fail of the highest order. This guy's going down!

Celebrity Scoop's comment, October 9, 2016 1:32 AM
you don't justify
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Urban Outfitters Just Hit a New Low by Selling Bloody Kent State Sweatshirt

Urban Outfitters Just Hit a New Low by Selling Bloody Kent State Sweatshirt | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Filed under: The most WTF thing we've seen in months.


Urban Outfitters, purveyor of clothing and home goods, big-ass floppy hats and occasionally offensive T-shirts, has outdone itself with this product on its website—a "vintage" Kent State University sweatshirt featuring fake blood splatters.


In 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired on a group of unarmed anti-war student protesters at Kent State, killing four and wounding nine others.

The sweatshirt sold out quickly, because there was only one. ("We only have one, so get it or regret it!" said the description.) Now it's listed on eBay by someone who says he/she will "give 50% of the profit to the Southern Poverty Law Center, who protect those who cannot protect themselves, often those who are victims of police brutality."...

Jeff Domansky's insight:

While not intentended, it's still a marketing fail. Someone in the marketing department needs sensitivity training or some idea of how sloppy thinking can create a mini crisis that can quickly escalate into a social media firestorm. To their credit, the company was quick to apologize and explain but it shouldn't have gone there in the first place. Another marketing lesson.

Deanna Casey's curator insight, September 15, 2014 9:54 PM

Urban Outfitters clothing and home goods store has many loyal customers purchasing their unique items and childish style. Although their style and products are well liked among young hipsters, they have always been known for their controversial saying on products. Many people take offense to their blunt choices of prints and designs that contain controversial messages. Recently, in this article by adweek.com, they posted a vintage faded Kent State University sweatshirt with dye blood splatters, or what seemed to be. The company only had one for sale and did not refer to the 1970 anti-war student protesters killed and wounded at the University. Social media took off on this negative advertised product from a company that is constantly looking to be a topic of discussion. Teen Twitter members were furious that the company they purchased from were insensitive to the tragic event in 1970. Urban Outfitters posted an apology that the stains on the shirt were in no way supposed to represent a blood stain or had any connection to the 1970’s shooting event at Kent State University. Social consumers are gathering this negative information about Urban and seeing the hate from many on social media sites, this would lead them to purchase from a competing brand. Urban Outfitters digital identity of the way they represent themselves has been becoming more negative in the past couple years. With their countless articles of clothing with drinking and drugs messages, and their customer base under the age of 21 their reviews on social media have been nothing but negative. I feel that Urban Outfitters wants any sort of media coverage, good or bad. Having the spotlight on them encourages consumers to search the site, and possibly like some of their products. Urban has a fan base of mainly hipsters, which are identified as stepping out of the box and doing things outside the lines, the company is doing the same just in more extreme cases.

Amanda Wall's curator insight, September 19, 2014 6:56 PM

Recently in class we were assigned a project where we could choose a for profit on non-profit organization I chose Urban Outfitters, one of the most recent controversial clothing companies in today society.

 

This article describes how Urban Outfitters is defending there vintage Kent State sweater, however, most people see through the vintage look and see it as nothing more than the tragedy that occurred in 1970. The Ohio National Guard fired on a group of unarmed anti-war student protestors at Kent State, resulting in four deaths and nine wounded. As to be expected people who know the background behind Kent State automatically assume the red "vintage" stains on the sweater is blood stains, whether the stains represents blood or not this specific sweater has respectfully been pulled off the shelves. 

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Lac-Mégantic: Rail World Inc.'s Crisis Communications Fail

Lac-Mégantic: Rail World Inc.'s Crisis Communications Fail | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

As I watch this crisis unfold, only 150 miles away from my home in Montreal, there are two things in particular that stand out: the crisis leadership and communications fail of the Chicago-based company that owns the train, Rail World Inc., and the executive Chairman that everyone looked to for leadership, but was no where to be found, Edward Burkhardt.


Rail World Inc.’s crisis communications failThe biggest communications fails are those (crisis communications) that do not exist, and those that come across as insincere and half-assed in a crisis situation.I wish I could report to you that Rail World Inc. had at least utilized social media as a communications tool for communicating with stakeholders, the media and concerned residents of the Lac-Mégantic community, but unfortunately I can’t. The company has zero corporate social presence and I suppose it never occurred to them to create, at the very least, a Twitter account to keep stakeholders updated throughout the crisis....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

Melissa Agnes examines Rail World Inc's crisis leadership and communications fail during the tragic Lac-Mégantic crisis. the crisis management performance by the Railroad CEO is terrible.

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Abercrombie Offends: Blame The CEO Or Blame Ourselves?

Abercrombie Offends: Blame The CEO Or Blame Ourselves? | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

As long as this aspect of our culture remains true, I would argue the problem is really one of society and that we are all complicit to some degree. It is not a coincidence that virtually all fashion and cosmetic companies behave somewhat similarly to Abercrombie & Fitch.

 

Among the mainstream brands, perhaps only Dove, with its real beauty campaign, has ever seriously committed to a marketing campaign with a counter-culture heart. If Jeffries did anything, he figured out his customer’s aspirations and designed advertising that appears to fulfill them. This has, and likely always will be, his job as a marketer. In that sense, he’s perhaps only guilty of being both good at his job and terrible at PR.... 

Jeff Domansky's insight:

7 yr old comments resurface and create a reputation challenge on social media for Abercrombie &Fitch. so far, they haven't handled crisis communications well, compared to Target in the story highlighted by me recently..

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PR Fail: Movie Theater Apologizes for (Fake) Assault-Rifle-Carrying Cosplayers at ‘Iron Man 3′ Premiere | PRNewser

PR Fail: Movie Theater Apologizes for (Fake) Assault-Rifle-Carrying Cosplayers at ‘Iron Man 3′ Premiere | PRNewser | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Fans dressing up as their favorite movie characters while attending opening weekend film showings is nothing new. However, costumed moviegoers who partnered with Capital 8 Theatres in Missouri to promote the premiere ofIron Man 3 recently caused a panic, for which the theater is now apologizing.

 

Had the cosplayers been dressed as Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, we imagine no one would have been particularly alarmed, but some group members donned S.H.I.E.L.D agent costumes — complete with fake firearms — which, given last year’s tragic shooting at an Aurora, COmovie theater (and the current high-alert mentality when it comes to guns), might not have been the best idea.

 

Moviegoers, understandably frightened by the sight of people dressed in what appeared to be body armor and carrying assault rifles, called the local police. Once the dust settled, the complaints began rolling in and the theater was skewered on social media, some even accusing Capital 8 of intentionally causing the kerfuffle as a publicity stunt. In response, the company issued the following apology...

Jeff Domansky's insight:

Unforgiveable PR fail and insensitivity. It seems that some companies never learn lessons from others' mistakes.

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PR Fail: Joe Paterno's Family Releases Yet Another Statement | Flack Me

PR Fail: Joe Paterno's Family Releases Yet Another Statement | Flack Me | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Well, the cover-up continues from the Paterno family over the ballyhoo created by Jerry Sandusky's tragic child abuse right under the big ol' schnoz of the entire Penn State athletics department. Take this headline from PennLive.com and Central Pennsylvania's Patriot News: 'Victim lawyer calls Paterno family response a PR gambit.' Of course it is. The family wants to repair its image, tarnished as a result of its patriarch's chronic neck problem. You know? Turning the other way. 

The article discusses the investigation commissioned by Penn State and conducted by former FBI director Louis Freeh. The scathing — and third-party — report found Paterno, former President Graham Spanier, retired senior vice president Gary Schultz, and on-leave athletic director Tim Curley covered up child abuse allegations against Sandusky. Yet, the Paterno family claims those conclusions were unfounded....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

This crisis strategy is going sideways fast.

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PR Fail: Cinemark Invites Families of Aurora Shooting Victims to Theater Reopening | PRNewser

PR Fail: Cinemark Invites Families of Aurora Shooting Victims to Theater Reopening | PRNewser | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

A note to readers: While most of the PR failures we write about are unfortunate, they are also amusing (on some level). This one, however, cannot be categorized as anything but horrifically insensitive, bordering on cruel.

 

Relatives of the victims of last summer’s movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado recently received invitations from Cinemark USA to attend the reopening of the same theater at which their loved ones lost their lives. The invitations, which were sent just after the holidays, urged recipients to “reserve [their] tickets” for an evening of remembrance and a movie to follow.

 

In response, family members sent a strongly-worded letter to Cinemark in which they expressed anger and outrage at the company’s lack of compassion, calling the invitation “disgusting”. They also noted that Cinemark representatives never reached out to offer their condolences; the company even rebuffed requests to meet with family members without lawyers present. The letter admonishes the reopening celebration as a “thinly veiled publicity ploy” and calls for a boycott of the theater....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

It's hard to imagine a more insensitive, poorly conceived and predictable PR fail than this one. It happens so often when marketing departments act first and think later. 

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15-Seconds Blog: Penn Tries to Erase Bad News

15-Seconds Blog: Penn Tries to Erase Bad News | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Declaring a matter "closed" doesn't make it so. The University of Pennsylvania may learn that lesson the hard way.

 

On Thursday the Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Penn resigned. Turns out Doug E. Lynch didn't have the PhD he claimed to have from Columbia University. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a University spokeswoman said on Wednesday that Lynch was "unaware he didn't have the degree." Yeah, it is SO hard to keep track of those things....

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What 100,000 Tweets About the Volkswagen Scandal Tell Us About Angry Customers | Harvard Business Review 

What 100,000 Tweets About the Volkswagen Scandal Tell Us About Angry Customers | Harvard Business Review  | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

In September 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency found that many Volkswagen cars sold in the United States were equipped with software that could falsely improve the performance of diesel engines on emissions tests. This cheating was subsequently acknowledged by the car maker.Among the many issues at stake for the company was one of public perception.


Anecdotal evidencate at the time of the incident suggested irreparable harm to the Volkswagen brand. So could Volkswagen recover in the short term in this regard? And, the broader question, how can you measure brand perception in times of scandal, particularly in an era where social media can cause negative news to proliferate and reverberate over time?


In the absence of direct empirical evidence, we wanted to find a way to tackle this important issue. We began our research with some key questions: How does social media sentiment change as a consequence of a public relations crisis? How does the public react to recovery efforts initiated by the company? How do topics of conversation shift as a consequence of a brand scandal and subsequent recovery efforts?...

Jeff Domansky's insight:

Lessons for crisis communicators from Harvard Business Review.

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These 3 Quick Reputation Management Tips Will Save Your Business From Oprah Winfrey's Experience of Terrible Customer Service and Social Media Backlash - Business 2 Community

These 3 Quick Reputation Management Tips Will Save Your Business From Oprah Winfrey's Experience of Terrible Customer Service and Social Media Backlash - Business 2 Community | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Oprah Winfrey, one of the world’s richest women valued at over 2.9 billion dollars, was refused 3 times the opportunity to examine and purchase a 37 thousand dollar Tom Ford handbag. This happened at a posh upscale boutique in Switzerland.


The resulting news and social media backlash for the boutique involved and Switzerland itself (the country’s tourism office also apologized to her) was rapid and explosive, with negative commentary from news organizations, Facebook, Twitter, media publications and the like chiming in. Don’t be surprised by this! Anything that touches on deeply personal values (racism, gender equality, lifestyle, health, etc.) will quickly mushroom into an immense social media unconscious event. It will either become a social media dream or in this particular case…the ultimate social media brand reputation management nightmare.


This wake up call provides a powerful opportunity for businesses regarding their reputation management process. Not every business has a plan in place and for those who don’t know where to start, consider these 3 compelling reputation management tips....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

Crisis PR lessons and valuable tips in reputation management. What a terrible case of bad PRand a great reminder to all about how fast a local issue and single incident causes a global reputation impact through social media.

Chris Abalain's curator insight, August 19, 2013 6:37 PM

Business owners should always be considering what their actions will do for their reputation!

Brad Dixon's curator insight, September 9, 2013 6:19 PM

We help companies develop the plan and then procide the system to run it smoothly. Check us out at http://www.reviewwatchman.com  

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Bizarre Tale of Arizona Bistro's Bad PR Grows | The PR Coach

Bizarre Tale of Arizona Bistro's Bad PR Grows | The PR Coach | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

Earlier this week, I posted about the Facebook meltdown and trials and tribulations of Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro in Scottsdale. Arizona (Epic Facebook meltdown, PR fail or publicity ploy?).

 

This un-reality show couldn’t get much stranger. It has more twists, turns and intrigue than a Shakespearean tragedy. Or maybe the Keystone Cops would be more accurate?

 

The bistro was featured in a raucous season finale episode on Kitchen Nightmares featuring explosive celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

 

It was an entertaining and highly-charged reality TV episode complete with drama, screaming, yelling, heroes and villains....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

The un-reality continues with more bad PR, twists and turns and a planned news conference and the most bizarre news release ever. Stay tuned!

Gary Pageau's curator insight, May 17, 2013 2:33 PM

How "not" to...

Jeff Domansky's comment, May 17, 2013 2:38 PM
Thanks for the Scoop Gary. Wasn't that press release something?
Gary Pageau's comment, May 17, 2013 2:49 PM
People forget, PR starts with product, not the spin. If you're core "product" isn't solid, no PR will save you.
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This Is The Most Epic Brand Meltdown On Facebook Ever

This Is The Most Epic Brand Meltdown On Facebook Ever | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it
The two owners of Amy's Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro took over the restaurant's Facebook page last night to fight unruly commenters, and man, was it embarrassing.
Jeff Domansky's insight:

In the short recorded Internet history of social media and PR fails, this one ranks at the top. It's a meltdown of epic proportions and the Buzzfeed story only introduces the story. The Scottsdale Arizona owners of Amy's Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro were featured on Gordon Ramsay's Hells Kitchen TV program.

 

As negative comments started to pile up on their bistro's Facebook page, the owners, Amy and Samy, jumped in to confront the critics. You know the saying never feed the haters. Apparently, Amy and Samy haven't heard the expression. On Monday, for hours, the two engaged in a terrible display of ignorance of social media and allowing trolls and haters to turn things into a spectacle. All recorded and to be played back forever in the future.

 

A proud moment for reality social media but not so good for your bistro business. The owners brought it on themselves. You really must see the Facebook page while it remains up to understand how this story spun out of control.

 

Reality TV has nothing on this social media story.

 

Amy's Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro Facebok page: 

https://www.facebook.com/amysbakingco ;

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RBC didn't plan for outsourcing backlash: PR expert | CTV News

RBC didn't plan for outsourcing backlash: PR expert | CTV News | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it

RBC broke the first rule of public relations, failing to plan for the possibility that employees whose jobs were being outsourced would be upset and take their complaints public, says one PR expert.

 

In February, 45 of the bank's personnel were informed that they would be replaced by outsourced workers after the bank contracted a number of technological services to iGate, a California-based firm that specializes in sending jobs offshore.

 

According to an RBC employee, personnel were given 90 days' notice. At least one of the Canadian employees complained that she was asked to train her own foreign replacement....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

Hard to imagine worse planning, or lack of planning than this PR fail. 

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Has Anybody Here Seen Jill Kelley? | 15-Seconds Blog

...So why did it take more than two months for Kelley to come to her own defense?  Kurtz says she told him her "publicist" advised her to lay low and the story would blow over in a couple days. Kurtz guest Lola Ogunnaike correctly points out that this was terrible advice.   Some stories do blow over but--particularly in the modern environment -- when you have a story that involves spy chiefs, generals, angry lovers and politics, the media's thirst for more detail is going to outlive a participant's determination to wait things out....

Jeff Domansky's insight:

Bad PR advice to Petraeus's other woman could have prevented her from a spirited and maybe effective defense of her reputation.

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Bloggers take to Twitter against Samsung - Technology - livemint.com

Bloggers take to Twitter against Samsung - Technology - livemint.com | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it
Bloggers take to Twitter against Samsung, Public opinion turns against the phone maker, after it allegedly left a blogger stranded in Germany, Technology...

 

Did Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd take bloggers from India to Germany with the understanding that they were to cover the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin, only to change their roles from reporters to promoters at the last minute?

Or, was it a simple misunderstanding between the bloggers and the Korean electronics maker’s public relations team?...

 

[Samsung could have easily avoided this big PR Fail. It didn't - JD]

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