IPL is the PR winner this week

 15th May 2014    Good and Bad PR 
 Paarul Chand

Good PR

IPL season 7’s Twitter integration is a hit!

IPL season 7 has launched a series of initiatives to engage with cricket fans using Twitter. One of the most interesting of these is #TwitterMirror, which allows cricketers and celebrities to tweet out candid signed pictures from the official IPL Twitter account.

The same feature is being used by other sports properties as well, including Southampton FC.

In another feature called #MagicMoment, fans will receive personalised photos from IPL team captains with a picture of a memorable point in the match. This is an extension of a similar campaign last year during the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar.

IPL extra innings uses tweets to unlock fan content

The IPL juggernaut rolls on at the same time as the greatest show on earth – the Indian election results unveils in India – so no wonder IPL is seeking a variety of ways to catch the viewers.

The latest Twitter enabled campaign is from the IPL Extra Innings show. All you have to do is ‘Tweet to Unlock’ using #eit20. After your tweets reach a certain quantum, the EI team will open up extra behind the scenes content and pictures for you.

Narendra Modi gets over 1 crore missed calls from BJP volunteers

The missed call – that very Indian invention – was put to good use by the BJP election managers. If you wanted to join the “NaMo for PM” task force, all you had to do was give a missed call to a designated number. BJP party members would then call you back, get your details and get a brief on campaign messages.

Some of the callers – 20 lakh of them – even parted with their electoral roll numbers, helping the BJP create a useful data base of potential voters.

In March this year, HUL used the missed call method to reach out to listeners in Bihar with their own branded radio channel ‘Kan Khajura Tesan’.

Looks like the missed call is emerging as an interesting communications technique.

Waste food? Pay up 5 francs extra

A restaurant in Switzerland has come up with a novel idea to prevent people from wasting food at their lunch time buffet. The Patrizietta restaurant in Losone in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, adds 5 francs to the bill of diners who leave food on their plate.

The idea struck the chef after he saw the amount of food being wasted during the lunch buffet.

This is an idea that should be adopted by Indian restaurants as well.

ABC Network pays for all weddings at New York City hall in celebration of Modern Family wedding

This is for those Indians who love the complex, loving, shambling characters of Modern Family. Followers of the show will know that two of the soap’s major characters Cam and Mitch get hitched during the season finale. 

In celebration of this big moment, ABC footed the bill for all weddings at New York City Hall this Monday.

Great way to do a good thing, create tie in buzz for the show and earn good PR. Nicely done.

Bad PR

Mattress makers, Kurl-On, shows Malala Yousafzai being shot in the head

There has to be a special word for this ad beyond bad PR. What were their thinking! Indian mattress maker Kurl-On’s ad shows Malala bouncing back from a Kurl-On after being shot in the head. 

The ad company Ogilvy and Mather has since apologised for the ad. “The recent Kurl-On ads from our India office are contrary to the beliefs and professional standards of Ogilvy & Mather and our clients,” said Greg Carton, spokesperson for the agency, in an email statement. “We deeply regret this incident and want to personally apologise to Malala Yousafzai and her family. We are investigating how our standards were compromised in this case and will take whatever corrective action is necessary.”

Carton said the company is launching a “thorough review” of its approval and oversight processes.

Gandhi family loyalists move in to insulate Rahul from poll results

Even before the results awarding Modi a thumping majority and a complete debacle for the Congress came in, Gandhi family loyalists Jairam Ramesh, Kamal Nath and Salman Khursheed chimed in to protect Rahul Gandhi invoking the principle of collective responsibility.

While most exit polls out the BJP and their allies in the lead to form the next central government, Gandhi family loyalists Jairam Ramesh, Kamal Nath and Salman Khursheed chimed in to protect Rahul Gandhi invoking the principle of collective responsibility .

Kamal Nath, according to the Times Of India, said that, "Election results are a reflection on people's perception of the government functioning ... To say that we did nothing in 10 years is wrong. Rahul Gandhi was never part of the government.”

This is a clear attempt to shift the blame on the Manmohan Singh government and put up a protective wall around the Gandhi scion who has been the star campaigner for the Congress party.

It’s exactly this kind of talk that shows the Congress party in poor light among people. This blind clinging to the Gandhi family and the electoral magic it is expected to wield has little place in the current voter priorities of development, jobs and reduced corruption.

I can understand the need to spin the narrative as the Congress feels its facing its worst performance ever but these statements makes one feel a sense of ennui and disgust at the open feudal sycophancy.

Have you seen any good and bad PR?

Write to Paarul Chand at paarul@prmoment.in or tweet @PaarulC or @PRmomentIndia throughout the week and we’ll happily credit you for your trouble.