Hey haters, hate this.

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc / LMMiami.com

  • Sooner or later, your brand/company/product/service will fall victim of a social media lynching.
  • It’s happened to Pepsi, United Airlines and Shea Moisture, among others.
  • Deservedly or not.
  • You can run but you can’t hide from the pitchforks.
  • The mobs of social media trolls have tasted blood and they want more.
  • Are you ready for your turn?
  • Haters will hate.
  • It will happen to all of us eventually.
  • Andy Warhol famously predicted that in the future we were all gonna be famous for 15 minutes.
  • He forgot to elaborate on his prophecy: a big part of being famous is being hated.
  • The problem in the marketing & advertising industry is that, unlike showbiz buccaneers who relish and know how to handle the attention, even when it is negative, corporate types abhor bad press and “scandals”.
  • Showbiz types know, intuitively and empirically, that a good public scandal is a terrible thing to waste.
  • It’s earned media.
  • It’s an opportunity.
  • There’s money to be made from scandal.
  • If PT Barnum were alive, he’d relish the potential of a good scandal.
  • Well, PT Barnum’s reincarnation is in fact alive and he occupies the White House.
  • Problem is, the average corporate type working for, say, a CPG marketing department is the polar opposite of PT Barnum or the POTUS.
  • Corporate types can’t stomach the turbulence and lack the reflexes to navigate it.
  • Even when they do have the skills to maneuver in the storm, they tend to receive a pink slip before they can do anything about it.
  • If you are a CMO or creative director in the midst of a public snafu over a campaign you personally greenlighted, please be aware that you are absolutely alone.
  • Your employer will throw you under the bus.
  • Your superiors need a scapegoat.
  • The media wants a culprit.
  • The social media haters want a head in a basket.
  • The people who report to you want your job and your salary.
  • Your peers and colleagues want less competition.
  • It’s up or out in corporate ‘murica, as you well know by now.
  • It’s a dog eat dog world (pardon the cliché).
  • If you are a CMO or creative director in the midst of a public snafu over a campaign you personally greenlighted, do everything you can to deflect the hate, cover your tracks, erase your fingerprints and dilute your responsibility.
  • Spread the guilt.
  • Point fingers.
  • Take the Fifth.
  • Hide under a rock.
  • Check into rehab.
  • Still, it is extremely hard to walk out of these shxxstorms unscathed and/or gainfully employed.
  • Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.
  • To be continued next week.

 

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