March 2013 – Raeanne Lee's Blog

A recent blog post in ADWEEK’s AdFreak outlined a “customer-service triumph for Chilli’s”. The story goes that an autistic girl refused to eat her burger as it was cut in half, and believed it was “broken”. The server was incredibly sympathetic and not only gave the little girl a new burger, but took the time to kindly explain to the little girl how she was going to solve the problem. The little girl then proceeded to kiss the burger several times, and her sister, touched by the server’s compassionate nature, posted the story on Facebook.

This generated nearly a million likes for Chilli’s Facebook page.

I was struck, not by the kindness of the server (although it was a remarkably nice gesture), but the way the story spread through the media like wildfire. In this day and age, using technology is essential as a means of connecting to all consumer segments- not just those who are ‘young’ and ‘tech-savvy’. Social platforms are becoming their own form of media, and are an excellent tool in making stories ‘viral’.

This is an example of just how effective good PR can be in promoting a company. Not only does it serve to spread the name of the brand (I confess to never having heard of it before, prior reading this post), but it reflects well upon the company’s core culture of excellent service. It is amazing what one instance of kindness, to one consumer, in one chain, can do for a company- an accomplishment that a planned marketing campaign costing a significant amount of money probably could not.

Or some 3 further Ps.

Subliminal messaging and other forms of product placement are becoming increasingly prevalent. Once confined to the realm of movies and television, like a scourge, it has seeped into the internet onto Youtube. I’m not just referring to the annoying ads which viewers have to endure before they can watch their selected videos- I am talking about the way Youtube stars flaunt of products in their videos. Such notable cases include Michelle Phan, a popular youtube makeup guru, who has accused of becoming a sellout due to her constant promotion of Lancome products, after being hired as their spokesperson.

Another accused ‘sell-out’ has been the Sassy Gay Friend franchise on Youtube. As I have been a fan of Sassy Gay Friend for the past couple of years, I feel as though I have some personal stake in this matter. The premise of these videos is, they take a classical piece of literature (like Shakespeare), and insert the ‘Sassy Gay Friend’ to help the protagonist, presenting the What-if? scenario. The video series is witty and frankly hilarious, but in 2011, the videos started featuring MiO, a beverage released by Kraft Foods.

Warning: Language is NSFW

Personally, I feel that this product placement has cheapened the video, removing artistic integrity. This opinion is shared by many of the series viewers, as shown by the drop in rating, as well as the top comment “If our friendly neighborhood sassy gay friend had a sensible sassy friend of any sexual orientation;the MiO disaster could have been stopped before it started.”

Unlike, such films as Castaway (where FedEx and Wilson became integral to the story line) and its spinoff TV ad, the product MiO is artlessly weaved into the story. While Youtube ads do not have the resources nor the time to artistically craft the product into it, this is blatant product placement is not effective. Consumers don’t want to be force fed the product but coaxed into it.

On the flip side, shameless promoting can prove to be most hilarious. See for instance this new ad, which acknowledges the “sell-out” nature of videos.

This video, is much better received than the former, although how effective is it marketing the product? Personally, I felt as though the product was a joke and would not seriously buy it- although this is a step up from my previous resentment towards the product. There is however, no denying that Kraft is getting the MiO name out there, although this Youtube product placement may have the unwanted effect of turning consumers against the Youtube personality presenting them.