Allison's Blog- Social Media & Marketing

Whenever I think of some of the worst PR campaigns in recent years, the one that almost immediately comes to mind is Pepsi’s 2017 commercial featuring Kendall Jenner. The ad, which can be seen below, received almost universal backlash, with Pepsi eventually pulling it completely from their own social media pages.             This commercial demonstrates the delicate nature of brands’ attempts to latch onto new trends and social movements, particularly when it relates to social justice. Many people pointed out parallels between the ad and Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge , a photograph that went viral in 2016. The photo depicts Iesha Evans, a 28-year-old black nurse, being arrested by police officers in riot gear during a Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.             Theoretically, creating parallels between a brand and a viral photo has the potential ...

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s book “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies” is a great guide for any business employee looking to make an impact in today’s world of social media marketing, regardless of whether they are just starting out, or already a tech-savvy expert. If the book has one main takeaway, it is that the groundswell, which is public opinion that travels through the masses via the internet, is unpredictable and uncontrollable. In Li and Bernoff’s words, “this movement can’t be tamed. It comes from a thousand sources and washes over traditional business like a flood. And like a flood, it can’t be stopped in any one place. Often it can’t be stopped at all” (9). Flood preparation is good for us to practice in the digital world as well as the real one! To employees and business owners who are unfamiliar with online methods of communication, all of this may sound intimidating, and maybe even a little bit scary. Not to worry! In chapter 2,...

In October of 2010, Microsoft released a series of commercials promoting their new Windows phone,  which ran on Windows 7, an operating system that was new at the time.  The premise of the commercial, which can be viewed below, was one that is becoming increasingly common: we spend too much time on our smartphones, and it is preventing us from experiencing all the wonderful things that exist in the world around us. https://youtu.be/282tOyZUIpc   The ad depicts people in a variety of situations who are unable to peel their eyes away from their phones: from a professional masseuse, to a doctor in the middle of performing surgery, and even a man who is missing the sexily-clad female companion standing right in front of his bed. In response to our collective technology addiction, they ask one word: "really?"             The message of this commercial is in many ways risky, and arguably against Microsoft’s ...