AUDIENCE, BRAND, CHANNEL: USING SOCIAL
MEDIA CASES TO TEACH COMMUNICATIONS
CONCEPTS
Holly Littlefield, PhD
hlittlefield@umn.edu
University of Minnesota
Carlson School of Management
Audience analysis
Tone
Credibility
Persuasion
Brand
Channel selection
Timing
Crisis communication.
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
YOUTUBE—COLLEGE RECRUITMENT VIDEOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi_TcOoAzrg
Gonzaga--Making the College Decision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpp3quce1Vo
UBC—lipdub
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlQL5L7_zww
UBC Place of Mind
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS DISCUSSION POINTS
Music
Images
Verbal vs Print language
Film quality
Buildings
Students shown
Activities
TONE
URBAN OUTFITTERS KENT STATE SWEATSHIRT
“…was purchased as part of our sun-faded
vintage collection. Discoloration from the
original shade of the shirt and the holes are
from natural wear and fray…We deeply
regret that this item was perceived
negatively.”
TONE AND CHANNEL
ESQUIRE MAGAZINE: FALLING MAN IMAGE ON
9/11 ANNIVERSARY FACEBOOK POST
Thousands of customers complained about the inappropriate use of
this 9/11 photo in their ad Tweet.
Multiple national news channels covered this story.
ESQUIRE’S APOLOGY POSTED ON TWITTER….
JC PENNEY GIRL’S CLOTHING—
SELF ESTEEM LINE
JC Penney
Online Caption
Who has time for home
work when there’s a
new Justin Bieber album
out? She’ll love this
tee that’s just as cute
and sassy as she is.”
Sold as part of Penney’s Self Esteem line
Soon after the shirt went online, Change.org put
up a notice with the message: “Stop selling
clothing with sexist messages for girls.”
By midday, more than 1,600 people had signed a
petition addressed to JCPenney Chairman and
CEO Mike Ulman III
“Under the guise of being ‘cute,’ J.C. Penney is
promoting merchandise that encourages girls to
value looks over brains; to leave academics to the
boys, and to aspire to nothing more than fawning
after Justin Bieber,”
JC Penney Response:
“We want to apologize to our customers.
We’re reaching out to our customers who
are unhappy to apologize and to let them
know that the T-shirt is no longer
available.”
JP MORGAN CHASE
EDUCATIONAL TWITTER Q/A SESSION
Thousands of hecklers responded with
“questions”….
AND THE FINAL RESPONSE…
TARGET GENDER NEUTRAL SIGNAGE
“Barbies are still going to be with
Barbies and Legos will still be with
Legos. We just didn’t feel like having
a sign that said ‘boys bedding’ was
necessary”
- Molly Snyder, Target spokesperson
“…has created an explosion of
anger on the right, with Fox
News devoting at least four
segments to churning up
pointless outrage over it.”
Business Insider
Target Troll—Mike Melgaard pretended to be an official customer
service representative on Target’s Facebook page
Target’s Official Response—After 16 hours
Target’s Subtle
Support
posted the
next day
CEO PERSONA AND COMPANY BRAND
RYAN AIR—CEO MICHAEL O’LEARY
FACEBOOK POSTING FROM CUSTOMER SUZY
MCLEOD REGARDING RYANAIR FEES
“I had previously checked in online but because I hadn’t printed out
the boarding passes, Ryanair charged me 60 euros per person!
Meaning I had to pay 300 euros for them to print out a piece of
paper! Please ‘like’ if you think that’s unfair.”
 More than half a million people ‘liked’
RYANAIR CEO MICHAEL O’LEARY’S
FACEBOOK RESPONSE
“We think Mrs McLeod
should pay 60 euros for
being so stupid. She wasn’t
able to print her boarding
card because, as you know,
there are no internet cafes in
Spain and no hotels where
they could print them out for
you…She wrote to me last
week asking for
compensation and a gesture
of goodwill. To which we
have replied, politely but
firmly, thank you Mrs
McLeod but it was your fuckup.”
BRAND
LEGO, SHELL OIL, AND GREENPEACE
Greenpeace asked Lego to discontinue its relationship with Shell Oil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4
Nearly 8 million views
TIMING
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HORSEMEAT SCANDAL…
WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT AT THE 2013
SUPERBOWL….
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
CINNABON CONTROVERSY
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-26/kat-cole-a-former-hooterswaitress-runs-cinnabons-1-billion-empire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LcBdbH8bo
APOLOGIES
AMERICAN APPAREL—CHALLENGER DISASTER
PHOTO
Challenger disaster
photo
DIGIORNO PIZZA—#WHY I STAYED
http://time.com/3308861/digiorno-social-media-pizza/
AMERICAN AIRLINES: PLAN PORN
US Air Tweeted a
graphic photo of a
naked woman with a
“toy” airplane between
her legs; the Tweet
remained in the US Air
Twitter feed for several
hours; hundreds of
Twitter responses
included:
CHILDREN’S PLACE
Children’s
Place
"NOT cute, Children's Place,
This is not 1953. Stop making
it fashionable for girls to be
dumb. Parents are sick of this
garbage."
The infamous 'Math is Hard'
Barbie came out over 20 years
ago, and you guys are *STILL*
trying to glamorize emptyheaded materialism? Shame on
you,"
MISCELLANEOUS SOCIAL MEDIA FAILS
HOME DEPOT FIRED ITS SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY
AFTER THIS TWEET
JUST AFTER THE AURORA SHOOTING….
http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/01/15/Anthony-Bourdain-launches-Twitter-tiradeagainst-American-Airlines/3481358285712/
Anthony Bourdain and American Airlines late departure via Twitter
2013
Live Tweeting During an
HMV Layoff
And…
"Just
overheard
our
Marketing
Director (he's
staying,
folks!) ask
'How do I shut
down
Twitter?'"
JUST AFTER THE BOSTON MARATHON
BOMBINGS…
viralblog.c
Back in 2011 during the protests in Egypt, Kenneth Cole posted
this tweet.
Posted just after the
Boston Marathon
Bombings
OTHER CASES
KRISPY KREME AND KKK
COLBERT AND WHEAT THINS
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/zzgfft/the-colbert-report-wheat-thins-sponsortunity
2013
non-executive chairman of Barilla Holding, never expected his remarks would be
relayed all around the world when he told Italian radio: "We won't do ads with
homosexuals, because we like the traditional family."
Bertolli pro gay ad response:
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/bertolli-makes-most-barilla-chairmans-anti-gaycomments-152758
2015
http://www.prweek.com/article/1352323/heinz-apologizes-qr-code-germany-linkshardcore-porn
Heinz QR code linked to porn site