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PR 2.0 Tactics

PR Squared

As championed in earlier posts, Social Media is forcing marketers to embrace the concept of brand deconstruction: to cede control of their brand – whether to their impartial advocates, passionate adherents, or even to their enemies. 

Why?  Because they don’t have much choice.  Word-of-Mouth, chatter, buzz – what’s being said about the brand is being captured, discussed, and most importantly, found online.  Might as well help things along, rather than try to fruitlessly fight the power.

Witness:  Our beloved clients at UGOBE, makers of the superb Pleo life form, spent countless months and not inconsiderable amounts of money to create a robotic creature that’s truly engaging.  And on the PR side, it’s been a textbook example of how great products get great coverage: this li’l dino’s been on most major network morning shows, in TIME Magazine, BusinessWeek, countless blogs, etc.  If we still printed out clip books, Pleo’s coverage would de-forest a Third World nation.

Imagine the horror, then, when the Sci-Fi Channel’s online gadget site, DVICE, posted a video depicting the torture of Pleo.  Imagine the consternation when someone subsequently posted a 23–minute video called “Pleo Surgery,” in which the poor fella literally falls to a scalpel-wielding fan.  Even the Twitterati took notice.

Now, I’m sure our clients were less than thrilled at first.  But ultimately they knew that the best course of action was to bow to the will of the mediasphere. 

A less confident brand might have protested, or even thrown up legal challenges!  But the executives at UGOBE ultimately realized that these “gruesome” videos were actually a tribute to their hard work.  They’d created something that was worth deconstructing.  (Ever see someone videotape the “torture” of a Transformer or Robosapien?  Didn’t think so.)

Let go.  Then reap the whirlwind.