09 May The Social Media Brand Winners (and Losers) in Fergie’s Retirement
Brand-jacking. Agile marketing. It’s the latest and greatest thing in social media marketing. Coral bookmakers got it spot on last summer when Robin Van Persie left Arsenal with a fast response on-the-ground stunt, and Oreo nailed it when the lights went out at the Superbowl with a now near legendary tweet.
And yesterday, as the news of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement as manager of Manchester United broke on Twitter, there was another fantastic opportunity for some brand magic. But while the social fleet of foot were quick to react to the news with some quick (and quick-witted) responses, there were also some notable absences.
The Good…
Of the many brands trying to strike up conversations around the day’s headline news, Nando’s saw a fantastic reaction to its #NandosFergieTime tweets stating that it would be opening its Manchester restaurants for an additional five minutes, mocking opposing supporters beliefs that United are always afforded additional time in which to equalise or score a winner.
In perhaps the fastest response of the day, Golden Wonder* published a special edition ‘Golden Handshake’ packet design inside half an hour of the announcement, poking fun at Fergie’s pensioner status.
And on Facebook, Kit Kat made reference to the infamous Ferguson dressing room ‘hairdryer’ treatment (pictured above), which he notoriously gave to under-performing players. Meanwhile, Premier Inn got in on the action by tweeting that, as a tribute to Fergie’s 26 yrs at United, customers can request a #FergieTime checkout this Sunday in Manchester to get an 26 extra minutes, while Hiring Bounty posted a reward of £99,000 if someone were to refer someone else successfully for the United manager’s position.
The Bad…
All these initiatives gained great responses and shares on Twitter and/or Facebook. But equally as talked about (if not more) was Wrigley’s, which gained over 1200 jibes on Twitter about it going out of business due to Fergie’s penchant for chewing gum continuously when around the football field (source: Brandwatch). And yet the brand was nowhere to be seen; a missed opportunity for some fantastic tongue-in-cheek social media buzz. And where were the hairdryer manufacturers? As Mark Perkins said on Twitter: “You guys are obviously all over Fergie retiring. If not you shouldn’t be in the game.” They shouldn’t.
And The Ugly…
And then there was Aon, Manchester United’s shirt sponsor. All it could muster was a (let’s be honest) mind-numbingly dull press release congratulating Ferguson on his retirement. “Aon…is also recognized as one of the leading firms on advising clients on the topics of retirement, talent development and succession planning”, it said. Jeesh…
So what are the rules of agile marketing? Why do some things fly and why do some things bomb? I’ll talk about some of the secrets of successful brand-jacking in my next post, so make sure you subscribe now in order not to miss it.
* Disclosure: Golden Wonder is a BOTTLE PR client
With thanks to Emily Leary, Rachel Miller, Paul Rayment & Barry Christie for their input.
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Posted by Paul Sutton
