social media marketing doesn't work
This is the phrase that will be echoing round many corporate marketing departments this morning in the semi-aftermath of the #qantasluxury debacle that unfolded on Twitter over the past 24 hours.
Of course that's only half the sentence.
Social media marketing doesn't work...WHEN YOU DO IT WRONG.
While some poor junior PR person or intern will be getting it in the neck, it's the top of the chain that need called into question for getting the absolute basics completely and spectacularly wrong with this twitter promotion.
It's not that they particularly need to keep quiet or hide from the many and varied cultural and industrial relations shitstorms they are in the middle of. I'm sure many would like explanation.
It is however a classic case of Mott The Hoople Syndrome and CC Bloom Fatigue in which the hapless Qantas have made the fundamental, delusional error of imagining that the conversation is exclusively about Qantas themselves, and not about helping solve the problems and generally taking an interest in the things their consumers care about.
This is what a service brand has to do.
UPDATE:
'We have a virtual monopoly...they have to fly with us'
Thanks KT.
