“We live in an age of rage, and companies are now compelled to engage and apologize,” said Harlan Loeb, global chair of crisis at Edelman, which advises Wells Fargo on corporate reputation. And when they use TV to tell the country they made a mistake and want to fix it, that’s cool. But no company has slammed, bashed, blasted and defecated on Television quite the way Facebook has. At the same time they’ve grossly misrepresented the effectiveness of their own platform and consistently lied about “performance” metrics. Then, amid all the fake news and misuse of data (which we probably don’t even know the half of) it was time for their reputation to take a nosedive. Their very own platform provided a forum for the outrage, amplifying consumer outrage and demands for accountability. NOW, they LOVE TV. So much so that they’ve dropped $30 Million worth of corporate mea culpa in the month of May alone.
While taking their money is certainly gratifying, wouldn’t it be better if TV executives gave FB the middle finger?
“Nope – sorry twerp. You may NOT use our airwaves to help repair your image. You’ve spent all of your waking time and energy trying to usurp Television and although you are crawling back on your hands and knees all we can offer you is a size 12 boot to bust open your lip”.
OR, a more patronizing approach might be fun. TV Executive: “Mark! Buddy,,, I was hoping you’d come around. How can we help?”. Marky Z: “Please, my Brand image is in free fall. I have nobody else to turn to for help. I need a real ad campaign and I need it now!”. TV Executive: “Sure thing babe.. We can help. The going rate for dork Billionaires is $67 Million for :30. Think you can swing it pal? If not, don’t let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.”
Oh, but then again, maybe a completely underhanded approach might just be the best of all. Beat them with their own tactic (lie). Tell them that TV works best when you don’t frequency cap; the more ads that run for as long a period of time, the better. Consumers love to hear the same message from the same advertiser over and over and over again. Tell them there’s no need to shoot a spot that feels authentic and that no solutions need to be mentioned in order to complete an apology. Then, sell them a package – $2 Billion gets you every commercial in every commercial break for the next 10 months. Lock them into a no cancellation policy. Then sit back a revel in their humiliation. Consumers will be disgusted .. annoyed. It will ruin their beloved TV watching experience. But they won’t blame their favorite TV shows. They’ll turn to social to vent their rage.
