Is the phrase “any publicity is good publicity” still true?  Does it apply in today’s social media whirlwind or has it transitioned into a turn-off that could ruin your business, brand, product or service? Does negative publicity still drive the “Curious George” buyer to purchase your product?

In today’s social media frenzy, we have the power to get instant knowledge of anything we search for, be it through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or through good-old, reliable Google.  With that power at our fingertips and the ability to reach not just the Gen X’ers or the new millennium (Gen Y), but also the baby boomers cashing in on the action, is negative still good?  I have heard nothing but negative feedback from Mr. Lambert’s AMA performance regarding his crotch-grabbing and his now-infamous kiss.  I will not mention some of the other borderline pornographic simulations which were performed on stage, but the performance was concluded with a two-bird salute to the audience telling them they were number one in his book.

So, with everyone posting on my facebook page, tweeting about how outraged they were or my local DJ announcing he is jumping off the AL bandwagon, was this a positive thing for his career?  Did he push the envelope too far?  With a new product launch (his CD), will this inspire people to buy the album more or will it turn them away?

These are the same questions we pose to ourselves every time we decide to create our marketing campaigns.  Do I try a conservative approach in order to reach my target audience or do I go all out and try to reach everyone and hope my appeal is bigger than my product’s general demographic.  It is a tough call, due to the pervasive belief that even negative publicity is good publicity because it gets people talking about you.  We used to believe if people were talking about you, it was a good thing.  Even negative conversations were believed to lead to the creation of a “BUZZ” which could drive sales. It is my belief that some negative publicity is actually the wrong publicity.  I, for one, will not be going out or online to purchase this guy’s music who obviously thinks the way to go about marketing himself is to insult his fan base. I even liked the new song release and I did watch the video, partly because it was associated with the movie 2012, which I think rocks!  I may not be aligned with the masses, but all I hear is negative mojo from this past weekend’s performance and everyone who used to be on “Team Adam” seem to have jumped ship.

I think the people who manage and market AL, may be shaking their collective heads right now wondering “what if” or “what could have been,” because I do believe he will sell some of his wares, mostly to one of the demographics he holds the closest to him; However, I do think, as a whole, he could have grabbed every demographic across the board.  As a marketing media specialist, I am shaking my head and saying to myself “what an Elliot!”  He may be getting the viral buzz he is looking for, but I think most of it is from people who want to see it to believe it, and not from the ones who want to see it because they are huge fans.  After the viewing, only one of two outcomes will happen, either you watch it with an open mouth and think “Oh my, I am not buying his stuff” or you will say, “Wow, cool, I need to see more!”   I believe more of the former will happen.

What is the lesson we take away from this?  I believe in the adage learned from carpentry, “Measure twice and cut once” because there is nothing worse than having to do it over!  In your case, a PR campaign to fix your previous campaign can also be a huge headache and expensive. Make sure you or your marketing company actually thinks about the big picture and the long run on your business and its future.  The last thing you want to be is just a flash in the pan or a one-hit wonder. Don’t pull a “Lambert,” call us at 877-885-7129 or email me at blythe@cornersix.com.

Travis Blythe
VP of Sales