The Headache Rx
The folks on the Motrin team are suffering from a sefl-induced headache today. It was caused by being focused on the wrong things in their “WE FEEL YOUR PAIN” AD CAMPAIGN.
Now they’re at a crossroads where the social media sphere is watching for how they’ll respond. Will they apologize, explain, and move on? Will they love their ideas or love learning about their customers? Were I the healthcare practioner on this case, I’d suggest that they take two …
- Step away from the the clever ideas — build relationships not campaigns. Send out an actual human being to talk with your customers. They’re your heroes.
- Trust that human being, trust your customers, and give people every reason to trust you. Trust is the currency of lasting relationships.
Don’t wait until morning.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Motrinmoms: The Spectacular Opportunity to Rise from a Colossal Mistake
Hey Liz! Hasn’t this been something! They did apologize – it’s up on their site (that was taken offline yesterday completely!) I also took it upon myself (a mom of two that wore her babies everywhere!) to write them the ad that wouldn’t have pissed everyone off! In case anyone wants to read it, so far the Moms have been thrilled: http://writingroads.com/blog/if-i-had-written-the-motrin-ad/520
I’m wondering why the folks at Johnson & Johnson (Motrin’s parent company) didn’t get the fact that you should engage the mom community *before* you try to market to them rather than after it goes kablooey after the Camp Baby thing.
But at least they had the backbone to pull the ad and apologize.
Shows they aren’t totallly clueless! 🙂
Yeah, Julie,
Though I’m with Seth, a person didn’t write that apology, a committee did. I’m delighted with your ad. That’s one thing that came out of this. So many looked at what they would have done differently.
Hi Lucretia,
I think what happens next is truly important. It will show what their apology is made of. So far it sound like a statement of regret. They’re not really saying that they did anything wrong.
I’d agree Liz – but I was also raised by Lawyers (I know, always sounds like ‘raised by wolves’ to me too) and there’s no way an apology that implies any wrong doing on the company’s part would’ve made it by Legal on a Sunday.
I’m pretty impressed that they got the ad pulled and any kind of apology issued before Monday given that it’s corporate America.
Still – we’ll wait to see if they get the message that you need to respect the Groundswell or if they just keep repeating history.
Yeah, Lucretia,
I understand the movement and the need to stay “legal,” especially in a big Pharma environment. What worries me is how many folks think they received an apology and are feeling as if they did.
If we can’t discriminate between a legal form and an apology, we’re in trouble.