We’ve covered celebrity brand woes and the impact of personal scandals on [...]]]> Justin Bieber has become the latest celebrity brand spokesman to find himself in brand trouble. Advertising Age wrings its hands at the damage his prank could do to his power as a celebrity endorser for brands such as Best Buy, Proactiv, and Google Chrome.

We’ve covered celebrity brand woes and the impact of personal scandals on national brands at length. Britney Spears shaved her head leading Pepsi to cut her off as a spokesman. Martha Stewart, Tiger Woods and Michael Vick also suffered lost endorsement deals when their immoral or criminal acts dominated the headlines.

Justin Bieber’s prank, trying to return a Wendy’s shake to a Burger King store, hardly rises to the level of scandal that hurts brands. Furthermore Justin Bieber’s brand is that of a cute teenage boy. The prank fits within his brand equity. Advertising Age does point out that being a jerk is part of being a teenage boy. And “teenage boy” is brand equity that sells pre-teen girls.

Note: This prank has gotten very little press mention, further blunting it’s impact on the selling power of Bieber as a pitch boy.

More on celebrities and brands:
When a Brand Is a Person
Nike Endorsement Deal Signals Michael Vick Brand Comeback
Michael Vick’s Potential as a Brand: Lessons from Martha Steward and Tiger Woods
Nancy Pelosi Enlists Steven Spielberg to Fix Her Personal Brand

Not so fast. It was a set up from the beginning—a set up perfect for generating buzz and involving fans. Fabio [...]]]> When Old Spice announced that Fabio would be replacing Mustafa, the outcry was instantaneous. Was Old Spice going to end up like The Gap and quickly backtrack when customers on social media screamed loudly enough?

Not so fast. It was a set up from the beginning—a set up perfect for generating buzz and involving fans. Fabio has issued this challenge on “the internets” for a duel with the “old new Old Spice guy” against him, the “new, new Old Spice guy.”

Fabio or Mustafa? Who will win?  Clearly Old Spice will!

Consumr is working with publisher Rodale to import Yelp-style product reviews for some 50,000 products you can find on grocery store, [...]]]> Advertising Age reports the launch today of Consumr, a new social media ratings site. It’s meant to be Yelp-meets-Foursquare to rate consumer packaged goods like Cheerios and Tide. This is a service without a need.

Consumr is working with publisher Rodale to import Yelp-style product reviews for some 50,000 products you can find on grocery store, drug store, and mass merchandiser shelves. Also, like Foursquare, consumers can “check in” with brands they like and earn badges, called “flair.” With enough “flair,” participants can earn the distinction, for example, of being named a “flavor fiend,” exclusive for connoisseurs of Chobani yogurt. Wow! We’ve written about pointless social media activity before (i.e. people taking the time out of their busy lives to “like” Ziploc bag on Facebook), but building a business around pointless social media activity seems a bit much.

Sites like Yelp work because the businesses, services, and products they review are relative high stakes. Here are the five key high stakes consumer motivations that make review sites like Yelp work:

1)      Expense:  You might look at car reviews because buying a car is a high stakes financial investment.

2)      Longevity: Using the car example again, you are buying a product with a long life—the high stakes are you’ll own it and use the product for years and will have to live with the decision, good or bad.

3)      Time Consuming: You might turn to Yelp to find a plumber, because of the high stakes involved in taking the time and effort to search for a reputable service provider.

4)      Pain: Again, using the plumber example, making the wrong choice could wreak havoc in your home and to your bank account. The high stakes of choosing the wrong dentist or leg wax service could also be extremely painful.

5)      Information Scarcity: Choosing a restaurant in a new town is a gamble without services like Yelp. The high stakes are if you choose the wrong place to eat, your evening is ruined.

The problem with a consumer goods rating site like Consumr, is that these high stakes motivations are totally missing. Buy the wrong yogurt and you waste a few dollars. It takes little effort to return to the store and buy another brand. A yogurt mistake just doesn’t have major implications. Furthermore, most people already know what yogurt they like. They don’t need to invest time in doing research. And how many people in our over-scheduled world are going to carve out time to earn “flair” so they can be known as a yogurt connoisseur  on some random Web site?  Those people are probably already too busy friending Ziploc bags on Facebook.

But, common sense is not as common as you might hope.

A purported social media expert working for a leading social media agency tweeted this for Chrysler: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the Motorcity and yet [...]]]> “Don’t use the F-Bomb” is a seemingly common sense rule when using social media for corporate purposes.

But, common sense is not as common as you might hope.

A purported social media expert working for a leading social media agency tweeted this for Chrysler: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the Motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking drive.”

If a pro can make such a big mistake, how can you protect your brand when your employees tweet and post on your brand’s behalf?

While you can’t create common sense through policy, it does make sense to provide guidelines.  A social media policy does more than make clear what mistakes to avoid. It helps you use the social media more effectively.

Here are some basic points to cover:

• Make sure people know they are personally responsible for what they write. Once something has been said, it can’t be unsaid, and there is no telling who will see what is written. Everyone should think twice before hitting the “share” button.
• Be real. Don’t create a fake persona or a faceless corporate presence. Use your real name and identify your relationship with the brand. Compare how Toyota uses real people vs. Chevy’s faceless corporation approach.
• Think about your audience. You will be talking to clients, future clients, employees, bosses, suppliers, competitors—everybody. Be careful not to alienate them. Ray Catena Lexus, a New York area car dealer “likes” The Mets on their Facebook page—how do Yankee fans feel?
• Stay away from religion, politics and sex. Good advice for polite company at a dinner party is also good advice for using social media. Be especially careful when thinking of voicing a negative opinion about anything—and never badmouth the competition.
• Don’t get defensive. Your company may come under criticism. Resist the urge to fight back. Be polite to detractors and use the opportunity to present additional information and resources. Don’t call people names or denigrate their thinking.
• Don’t misuse copyrighted material. Be sure to provide attribution for any material you share. Never post confidential material.
• Be helpful, bring value, be amusing. Don’t just blare out commercial messages and public relations fluff. If you get a reputation for being a walking, talking commercial, you’ll be considered a spammer and will be tuned out—often rudely.

The Social Media Governance Web site has an impressive library of real social media policies from many different types of companies. These can provide a template for your company’s social media policy as well as give you an idea of what issues other companies have faced and how they dealt with them.

Don’t try [...]]]> Rance Crain has an interesting post in Advertising Age: “Back in the Mad Men days, when the “pioneers of advertising,” as my old boss Stan Cohen calls them, ruled the roost, it was commonly held that a little exaggeration was not unreasonable to accentuate the selling points of the ad messages.”

Don’t try that today.

Between bloggers and Tweeters, your advertising “exaggeration” will be called out as a lie and your brand will suffer.

Consider these two recent stories:

On the one hand, Chevy Volt initially claimed a 40 mile range per battery charge. Check Twitter and you will find it is between 23 and 25.  GM has “revised” the claim to between 25 and 50 miles–still not quite in line with what consumers who use the product are reporting. The buzz on the Volt brand is not positive. Despite GM’s revision, angry tweeters and bloggers continue to attack the discrepancy. The lack of range and lack of “clarity” on the part of GM is one of the reasons depressing demand for the product.

Contrast that with Taco Bell and the “not beef” controversy. A law firm in Alabama sued the company claiming it was not actually using beef in its tacos–and it invested plenty in promoting its beefless claim to get major coverage from media major and minor. Taco Bell has shown that when your brand is honest and does a good job of getting the true story out there, it can weather a public relations storm. Witness how Taco Bell responded to a lawsuit charging the company with not using real beef. The company responded with an integrated campaign combining traditional public relations and newspaper advertising along with new details on its website, offering to give away 10 million tacos to people who “like” its  Facebook page and a straightforward  video on YouTube featuring Taco Bell  President Greg Creed saying, “Our seasoned beef recipe contains 88 percent quality USDA inspected beef.” In addition to listing the beef content, he provides a detailed list of the remaining ingredients. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.

From Wikileak threats to Twitter snipes, the truth about your brand will get out. Exaggeration no longer sells, it repells.