In the current economic climate, many small businesses need to pinch pennies to keep afloat. Because of this, outsourcing of certain business services is becoming increasingly prevalent. A recent PR nightmare in the tech space would suggest that this isn’t always the best of ideas.
N-Controller, an up and coming video game peripheral manufacturer hired a separate marketing firm – Ocean Marketing – to promote their Avenger controller attachment for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The attachment, meant to improve reflex timing and allow disabled gamers to use two-handed controllers, was launched mired with shipping delays and inventory shortages. When a customer sent an email – importantly, a frustrated, but polite email, mentioning their excitement for the product – to N-Controller’s customer service department, the response was shocking. Initially, the reply from Ocean Marketing was curt, answering the delivery inquiry with a date (as detailed in the since published email chain, literally “Dec 17”). As the customer persisted, the external marketing rep grew angry and insulting. The argument intensified with the rep name dropping game developer executives and conference organizers, mentioning how “nobody cares” about the individual customer’s issue.
That’s when the tech community stepped in. Mike Krahulik, organizer of the major video game convention PAX, stepped in when the customer forwarded him an email the Ocean Marketing rep sent. Krahulik responded to the rep’s claim that the Avenger was to be featured at the convention by saying any booth related to the peripheral would be banned. The rep foolishly engaged in a war of words with Krahulik, leading to some scathing articles on major technology publications such as Engadget, Kotaku and IGN.
Due to the immense pressure N-Controller has faced from this incident, they have since cut ties with the rogue marketing firm, and has donated $10,000 in cash and $50,000 in product to Child’s Play, a charity supporting disabled youth in enjoying video games. That’s a costly way for the small manufacturer to buy back some respect, but it’s a gesture that has been well recognized across the industry.
The main lesson here is for small businesses to be wary of the type of people they outsource their frontline marketing/PR services to. It’s becoming clear that how a company wishes to position itself in a market goes far beyond the flashy splash ads in magazines or on websites – it reaches into the relationships your staff builds with a community, not a market. Given the backlash to the inane behaviour of the Ocean Marketing rep, it’s obvious too that an exciting product alone can’t hold up your marketing arm without a proper structure of respectful customer service and relationship builders behind it.
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