The Spin Within

These are no doubt the words a few men heard this Valentine’s Day when their order from 1-800-Flowers failed to arrive. Oops.

1-800-Flowers is under fire this week for failing to deliver countless orders on Valentine’s Day and giving no reason why. When customers were stuck on hold ‘endlessly’ – as some say – they turned their ire to 1-800-Flowers’ social media pages. Here are just some of the comments:

- @kyrauff, “How many couples broke up because of @1800flowers’ no good, very bad Valentine’s day?”

- @vancouverkate, “I’ve already been waiting 14 … Continue Reading

You are about to hear the pen ultimate example of the beauty of keeping it simple in PR.

I’m not in the market for a new pen. I don’t collect pens. I couldn’t even tell you the brand of pen sitting on my desk as I type this blog. But thanks to the magic of a PR campaign that is absolutely beautiful in its simplicity, I happen to know that Paper Mate is selling a new InkJoy line of pens that deliver a revolutionary writing experience at an everyday price.

There’s just one reason I know about the InkJoy. The DJ’s on … Continue Reading

Perhaps it has something to do with our general fondness for footwear and do-goodery, because when it comes to delivering a positive image, Zappos.com walks pretty tall even if the headlines are bad.

Zappos.com recently announced that it was the victim of a data breach that affected 24 million customers. Yet it did not appear to suffer the same consumer or media scrutiny as did other companies in the same spot.

This is in part because Zappos.com responded quickly and pretty transparently. But I have a hunch that Zappos.com’s investment in goodwill among … Continue Reading

OK, this is one of the most bizarre PR stunts I’ve ever heard of, and I’m not surprised that it failed. In a big way.

Apparently, Germany’s Meteorology Institute allows companies to ‘sponsor’ weather systems through its ‘Adopt a Vortex’ program for the low, low price of what would be $393 American dollars. A steal, right? BMW thought so and paid to have a European cold front named after the Mini Cooper, thus having it called the ‘Cooper Cold Front.’

Well, as of last week, the Cooper Cold Front is now responsible … Continue Reading

I have no expertise in secret ops, special warfare or any kind of warfare, but I do have a ton of respect for all the men and women who shoulder a gun for their country. That’s especially true in the case of  the members of SEAL Team 6, the daring  forces who killed Osama bin Laden last year, and this month completed the successful rescue of a pair of American and Danish aid workers in Somalia.

But even as I marveled at the skill and bravery of these “elite of the elites,” I could not help wondering how all the publicity … Continue Reading

In a time where the image of and trust in politicians is at an all-time low, regardless of the party, one Congresswoman shines through as the epitome of one who truly wants the best for her constituents.  What all of us wish we’d see in our elected officials.

Gabrielle Giffords will be stepping down from Congress this week.  She needs to focus on her recovery and realizes that her constituents need a full-time representative. Her spirit, grace, fight and passion are remarkable.  And it’s those traits that made her an outstanding Congresswoman.

Cheers to you, Gabby.  May all of your colleagues learn … Continue Reading

When you promise a free anything on Facebook, you better be prepared for it to go viral and for a lot of consumer attention. When you are not prepared, it will bite you in the butt in a big way.

Just like it did for Toronto-based Timothy’s Coffee.

We are a fan of these K-cups at our office. We have three boxes of Timothy’s Coffee in our office right now and we make coffee orders at least twice a month. So if we would have known Timothy’s Coffee was offering … Continue Reading

With a batch of specially made hamburger buns, South African hamburger chain Wimpy showed how successful word-of-mouth is done.

Wimpy wanted to let the visually impaired community know that they now have menus available in braille.  With a sesame seed braille message on just 15 hamburger buns, they managed to reach an audience of 800,000 people.

The video pretty much speaks for itself.

(There is also a narrated version of this video.)

It looks like Carnival Cruise Inc., may come out of its recent disaster at sea virtually unscathed. One look at its Facebook page shows the majority of people who like the page still like Carnival. A recent post from Carnival emphasizing that safety is their first priority drew more than 2,300 likes in the first four hours.  Even the vast majority of the nearly 1,000 comments on that post are positive.

Yes, I would agree that you’re probably just as safe cruising the high seas as you are cruising the highway in … Continue Reading

There were plenty of candidates for our list of the top PR blunders of 2011. In most cases the difference between a public relations blunder that irreparably damages your reputation and one that is just a blip on the radar hinges on how quickly, authentically and transparently the company (or the person) responds. The public is incredibly forgiving but their bullish&%t meters are high.

Netflix – Netflix ticked off millions of customers this fall when CEO Reed Hastings announced he was splitting the company in two, essentially doubling the monthly fees … Continue Reading