So the Obama campaign (well super PAC) ran an ad against Romney a while back that featured 'Donnie'
This is a great example in PR of how you have to vet your "customer" endorsements.
Why?
Well, turns out Donnie Box thinks Obama is just as bad as Romney.
In an interview Donnie states:
“I could really care less about Obama," says Box. "I think Obama is a jerk, a pantywaist, a lightweight, a blowhard. He hasn't done a goddamn thing that he said he would do. When he had a Democratic Senate and Democratic Congress, he didn't do a damn thing. He doesn't have the guts to say what’s on his mind.”
Oh I got a good laugh out of this. It's not a testimonial if someone merely bashes your competitor, you should also make sure that they LIKE you, otherwise in follow up interviews this is the kind of thing that happens.
And before you think this doesn't apply to you, think again. This actually happened to me (although it never ended up in the media).
A customer gave an amazing testimonial to the media on our behalf. I, as the PR person, simply took the account reps word that the customer loved our company. After having done the interview I called the customer to simply thank them for taking the time.
The customer told me I was welcome and that they wanted to talk to me about something. They proceeded to tell me that the service they were getting was horrible, that the solution wasn't working, that they had tried over and over to get a fix and couldn't and they were pissed off.
They then proceeded to tell me that if I didn't fix their problem, they would call the media outlet back up and tell them what their real experience was.
Now, it's important to me to state that at the time of the interview I had no clue they were upset. It was only after that I found out. If I had known prior to, even if they were willing to essentially lie, I would never have put them in front of the media.
Needlessly to say, I escalated the situation and got resources assigned to solving the customer's problems so that everything worked out in the end.
But it was a lesson learned (one the folks that created the Donnie ad hopefully have learned), which is before you use someone for a testimonial, know their true feelings. And take the time to dig deep, because sometimes they will lie to you (even if through omission) and use their testimonial to hurt you after the fact.
This is a great example in PR of how you have to vet your "customer" endorsements.
Why?
Well, turns out Donnie Box thinks Obama is just as bad as Romney.
In an interview Donnie states:
“I could really care less about Obama," says Box. "I think Obama is a jerk, a pantywaist, a lightweight, a blowhard. He hasn't done a goddamn thing that he said he would do. When he had a Democratic Senate and Democratic Congress, he didn't do a damn thing. He doesn't have the guts to say what’s on his mind.”
Oh I got a good laugh out of this. It's not a testimonial if someone merely bashes your competitor, you should also make sure that they LIKE you, otherwise in follow up interviews this is the kind of thing that happens.
And before you think this doesn't apply to you, think again. This actually happened to me (although it never ended up in the media).
A customer gave an amazing testimonial to the media on our behalf. I, as the PR person, simply took the account reps word that the customer loved our company. After having done the interview I called the customer to simply thank them for taking the time.
The customer told me I was welcome and that they wanted to talk to me about something. They proceeded to tell me that the service they were getting was horrible, that the solution wasn't working, that they had tried over and over to get a fix and couldn't and they were pissed off.
They then proceeded to tell me that if I didn't fix their problem, they would call the media outlet back up and tell them what their real experience was.
Now, it's important to me to state that at the time of the interview I had no clue they were upset. It was only after that I found out. If I had known prior to, even if they were willing to essentially lie, I would never have put them in front of the media.
Needlessly to say, I escalated the situation and got resources assigned to solving the customer's problems so that everything worked out in the end.
But it was a lesson learned (one the folks that created the Donnie ad hopefully have learned), which is before you use someone for a testimonial, know their true feelings. And take the time to dig deep, because sometimes they will lie to you (even if through omission) and use their testimonial to hurt you after the fact.
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