If you are a small business marketer who thinks big, you might have been captivated by all 98 episodes of Mad Men, the popular television series that recently ended its seven-season run. And why not? The series was as much about the rich characters and masterfully written plot lines as it was about marketing the businesses and brands that served as a backdrop. While some of the businesses and brands were simply a figment of a writer’s imagination, others such as McCann Erickson, The Hershey Company, Avon, Chevy and more, were very familiar. How the familiar capitalized on or, in some cases, salvaged their portrayals provide lessons in reputation management.
Diana Bailey put together an excellent post about How McCann and Hershey Dealt with Unexpected Spotlights from Mad Men. Here are a few highlights:
Ad agency McCann Erickson is leveraging the publicity it has received on AMC’s Mad Men, despite the fact that the TV show hasn’t portrayed the firm in the kindest light.
During episodes of Mad Men’s seventh and final season, McCann has been live-tweeting with the hashtags #MadMen and #MadMenMcCann.
The firm is also cleverly using the show’s content to share facts about McCann’s history. For example, in an episode that aired earlier this month, lead character Don Draper took a meeting with Miller Beer, which was about to launch a diet beer that America would come to love as Miller Lite.
The real agency even created fake employee ID cards for the show’s characters, posting the creations to its social media accounts.
Web mentions of McCann are up 46% since early April, when the show started airing again, according to news reports.
In addition, media outlets such as A.V. Club and The Wall Street Journal have praised McCann for having a sense of humor in the face of such negative publicity.
So what can Mad Men teach your small business about reputation management in an era of real-time marketing and social engagement?
A previous post on this blog included several small business tips for reputation management in the digital age. Here are a few more featured in a post by Dorothy Crenshaw entitled 7 PR Lessons from the Internet Shame Game:
Don’t lie. In the digital age, it’s very difficult to conceal anything, even the most private of private behavior. In some cases, the coverup is more damaging than the actual offense.
Take a break. Some victims of the shame machine try too hard to take on their antagonists in social media. It’s nearly impossible to be objective, and often it’s adding fuel to the fire. Retreat doesn’t mean defeat.
Let allies defend you. If you must go on the offensive, let surrogates carry the water. Third parties can be tapped to post comments, tweet, or be interviewed on your behalf in a truly viral reputation crisis.
Mend fences. If you have no allies, it may be time to launch a charm offensive to cultivate or woo back those you have alienated.
Shame the shamer. If the criticism is out of line, you can give as good as you got, but seize the moral high ground if possible.
Use your shame for good. In the case of a truly sensational shaming, redemption can be a long time coming. Look at Monica Lewinsky,…Now, 18 years after she was originally “outed” for private behavior with a very public man, Lewinsky has made lemons into reputation lemonade. … She did it by embracing and turning around her own victimhood, becoming a champion of those who suffer from online humiliation.
As a small business marketer who thinks big, I will miss Mad Men and the nostalgic look at businesses and brands during the best and worst of times. However, the most important piece of advice on reputation management comes not from a fictional ad man or woman, but from real-life businessperson, Warren Buffett:
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
What do you think about the businesses and brands featured on Mad Men? Did the show help or hurt their reputations? Personally, if I were a Coca-Cola creative, I would have tweets in my stream, a song in my heart and a significant media buy surrounding the I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke commercial, which closed out the final episode of the series. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.
GB O’Brien
LGK Principal
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