Motrin: A Case Study In Social Media Marketing - Part 2
11/18/2008
Update: 11-18-08; Kathy Widmer, VP of Marketing apologizes on the home page of Motrin. This is the follow-up post to one I wrote on Diva Marketing on 11-17-08 on how social media changed the direction of a Fortune 500 company's marketing campaign.
As is always the case in a slide down the slippery slope of social media, there are lessons we can take away from the Mortin Moms Social Media Case Study. I've reached out to Bonnie Jacobs, VP Communications and Kathy Widmer, VP of Marketing at McNeil Consumer Healthcare offering Diva Marketing as one platform to tell their story. (Btw .. would not be surprised to see someone from the Morin marketing team making the conference rounds.)
The influence of "just" a few thousand people changed the marketing
direction of a Fortune 500 company's multiple channel advertising
campaign (McNeil Consumer Health is a division of Johnson and Johnson). Within hours of social media conversations a website had
been taken down and put back up with an apology. Plans were in the
works to pull print ads and perhaps other initiatives that were set to
launch were halted.
Listening to, what went beyond the sentiments of "just" a few
thousand bloggers or tweeters, but perhaps reflected a signification segment of Motrin's target audience, may have
saved the company some hefty dollars in terms of ultimate goodwill and
stopped the ooze of brand erosion before it could spread further online
and off.
The social buzz is that the brand team could have responded faster. Perhaps. But for their actions to a Sunday Social Smackout McNeil Consumer Healthcare gets a gold star from Diva Marketing.
In trying to understand what happened, we don't have a lot to go on .. We don't know what research went on prior to the launch of the campaign. We don't know the infra structure or the communication that most certainly flew from site to site to phone to office meetings. We don't know when Mortin's marketers begin to "listen" in on the tweets and blogs or when they first found out. Nor do we know when the decision was made to send the letter to Amy Gates at Crunchy Domestic Goddess and why Amy and who else received Kathy Widmer's email.
We
can only guess the impact that this had and will continue to have on the human
resources at McNeil Consumer Healthcare and their marketing parners as they execute their new strategy. We can assume that it will cost a pretty
penny in terms of dollar investment.
We also don't know the end of the story. Or perhaps it is really the beginning of the story. What lessons did the Morin marketing team take away from the Mortin Mom's Sunday Social Smackout? What counsel is their agencies giving? Will they embrace the women and men who Helped them avoid an even bigger blow-up? Will they participate in the social media conversations? Currently Motrin's people are messaging one-sided .. there is no dialogue that I can find.
Morin's social media experience reinforces that social media marketing is a complex, multi-faceted strategy.
- It is critical to have strong communication systems in place that integrate muliple departments: marketing, PR, customer service, legal, sales, operations, etc.
- It is critical to listen and participate in your customers' online exchanges.
- It is critical to be humble.
The end game to this post: There is value in the asset: Mortin Moms. Mortin marketing team .. what will you do with that one?
Sidebar: Thanks to Mark Story for posting the updated Mortin website.
