Over the last few years, newsjacking became a popular activity among organizations and “public profiles” such as politicians or famous people. This technique is used in order to gather media attention and to attract new customers or fans and it consists in associating the brand with breaking news or events. The Italian twitter’s scene provides several examples of newsjacking, some of them are really successful, but others could be defined as PR disasters.
Maurizio Gasparri and his relationship with Twitter.
One of the most controversial and discussed Twitter account in Italy is the one of Maurizio Gasparri. He is a right-wing politician who is very active on this social network, indeed many people think that he is more active on Twitter than in the parliament. Wired Italy dedicated him a very long article entitled “The Story of the Worst Twitter Account in Italy” in which they list the many embarrassing statements tweeted by Gasparri. One of these statements went also international when The Guardian published an article about his tweet against English people after the match Italy – England of the World Cup 2014.
Ceres and the right use of newsjacking techniques.
Fortunately, in Italy exist also more talented PR practitioners who can use newsjacking as a powerful tool for their brand. The PR and marketing department of Ceres Italy, Danish brand of beer, is well-known for its successful campaigns using newsjacking techniques. They always follow the news, especially about politics, and try to take advantage from them. An example is provided by their advertisement campaign during the elections of 2013 where they suggested “Before vote and then drink. Not like last times”. Since Ceres in Italy is consumed mostly by young people, they direct their campaigns to that audience. Indeed, during the same elections there was an issue with Italian Erasmus students living abroad because they could not vote, so Ceres Italy organized symbolic elections and created also the hashtag #iovotolostesso (#ivoteanyway). This campaign gathered a lot of media attention and, consequently, it can be considered as a great example of newsjacking. But, what happens when these ways of newsjacking meet on Twitter?
Gasparri vs Ceres
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| Source: Twitter |
Last Friday, Pope Francis went to Cuba and he celebrated Mass on Plaza de la Revolución where there was exposed a big portrait of Che Guevara. This event was followed by Italian media which used the hashtag #PapaEnCuba. Gasparri could not miss the opportunity to share on Twitter his opinion about the two important Cuban historical characters: Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.
Gasparri’s tweet means “Guevara was a terrorist, the Castros were criminals”. The day after the tweet was published by the politician, Ceres replied by saying “Guevara was a terrorist, the Castros were criminals and Gasparri has been a great minister.”. Surely, Ceres’ tweet was full of sarcasm but Gasparri did not get it, so he replied “That’s all true”. Ceres did not wait to reply again, so they highlighted the fact that just a beer could have said that (meaning drunk people) and that Gasparri said that the beer was right.
Gasparri’s tweet means “Guevara was a terrorist, the Castros were criminals”. The day after the tweet was published by the politician, Ceres replied by saying “Guevara was a terrorist, the Castros were criminals and Gasparri has been a great minister.”. Surely, Ceres’ tweet was full of sarcasm but Gasparri did not get it, so he replied “That’s all true”. Ceres did not wait to reply again, so they highlighted the fact that just a beer could have said that (meaning drunk people) and that Gasparri said that the beer was right.
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| Source: Twitter |
After this conversation, many people retweeted Ceres’ tweets and they also posted supporting messages for the Danish brand. For example, Giovanni Diamanti said “From now on, I’ll have just Ceres” or Simona Vargas tweeted “Ceres I love you”.
In conclusion, Gasparri’s newsjacking activity backfired while Ceres successfully applied newsjacking techniques and also took advantage of Gasparri’s online bad reputation.
Do you think Ceres made the right choice by showing again what the company thinks of Italian politics? Or maybe this operation was a bit too risky because organizations such as Ceres should not show their political position?
Alessio Maggiore
To me, it seems like Ceres not only is aware of what's happening in Italy, but also knows who its target consumers are sufficiently well to make such risky moves. I'm not fully familiar with the Italian context, but it appears like the brand uses the political scene to its advantage, by building upon the (lack of) social capital of certain politicians and properly addressing consumers who can understand the jokes.
ReplyDeleteTo me, coming from a country that somehow resembles this political scenery, Ceres proves to have a well-defined corporate identity and an astute PR team, that is not afraid to openly use the country's situation in its favor.
I think that it was very risky for a beer company to make such poltical statements. Although their target audience is primarily younger, there will still be those who do not agree with their poltical opinion. The problem is that within the organisation itself, there may very well be people with different poltical affiliations and so the social media could have the potential to become fragmented. Consumers may then get mixed messages about what the company stands for. I think the organisation should put more of it's resources into promoting it's brand and not discussing political affairs! The building of the identity of a brand is a dynamic process and the company should take this into account. By promoting it's activities and distancing itself from the political arena, Ceres could focus on making sure people knew about their product.
ReplyDeleteAndrei Rydzkowski