Funny how, despite the availability of sophisticated buzz monitoring tools, big brands continue to boob when it comes to online media monitoring and sensing a change of mood in consumers.
M&S has finally bowed to pressure from bigger-busted customers to sell larger bras at the same price as standard lingerie. Campaigner Beckie Williams, founder of Facebook group Busts 4 Justice, was so infuriated by the retailer’s policy that she bought M&S shares with the intention of confronting Chairman Sir Stuart Rose at its AGM in July.
M&S's about turn and apology..."We boobed."
More than 11,000 people had rallied to Beckie’s Facebook Group which claimed M&S was, in effect, putting a £2 surcharge on bras with a cup size larger than double-D.
Competitor Asda, with some shrewd tactical PR, waded in with its first £4 brassiere and some tongue-in-cheek statements about ending prejudice against well-endowed women.
So, last Saturday, we came to M&S’s “We boobed” ad in the national press and some heavy-handed spin from Stuart Rose to try and turn the situation around. They appeared to be very slow in tracking a groundswell of opinion which could have been monitored much earlier on Facebook, in other social media and blogs.
Negative sentiment can be interpreted from buzz monitoring data and is often correlated with a fall in sales figures. M&S waited until it was hurting financially in its outlets but it could have spotted a balance of negative sentiment much earlier and had a much more positive PR result, never mind the dip in bra sales.
Digital public relations is fast becoming a necessity, rather than a tiresome add-on.
