Just now saw the story about Mars shutting down an unofficial Snckrz! site from Poke.com. Mars says they didn’t give permission for their logo and brand to be used in the way it was. (Agency Spy and Creativity weighed in too.)When still live, it allowed users to mess with the logo and create their own message in the candy’s font, something playing off their campaign currently running shown above. (Various outdoor and print ads have different takes on hunger and snacking themes using a range of words.)
Poke CD Tom Aiello developed this idea while at Agency.com, (of Subway pitch fame). Whatever people think of that though, and while this might seem ironic considering what Mars is claiming, I think Poke got robbed here.
This wasn’t some brandjacking that denigrated the product, this played off what Snickers was already doing—for free. 80,000+ users free. People on YouTube do things with products every day without permission from the brand.
Diet Coke and Mentos should have settled the issue a long time ago; two guys messing with a brand without initial approval. This should’ve opened the floodgates for brands to have people do whatever they will, but I guess not.
Anyone giving Skittles props for their Modernista! homage needs to neg Mars here. If you preach endlessly about how brands can’t control the message anymore, this is a perfect example of what happens when you try.
What they won’t be able to control is the negative backlash. YouTube mashup madness where people just do what they want will only get worse. Should an agency know better and not try these stunts, especially one they don’t work for?
Who said? We give props to idiots with rubber Snakes on a Plane blogs or dudes playing in an iPhone band because somehow, these are examples of “consumer evangelists brand loyalists” raising up! Whoo-hoo! But let an agency try the same thing and holy shit.
Skittles was the one who brandjacked other social media sites to load as their own, yet that was okay. (And, that concept was originally an idea tossed around for Agency.com’s own self-promo. They wanted to redo a series of brands and feature it as they’re own homepage.)
All this did was take an existing campaign and stretched it at no cost to the brand, (save for the time it took Mars legal to send an email). It also showed some of the agency’s self-promo chops. Ya think in times like these, the brand would appreciate the free exposure.
At the very least, Mars just ended up giving Poke some exposure.
(Image via.)
1 comment:
And it goes to also show that Bean Counters don't know a good thing when they see one. Bankers, Lawyers, Accountants...they all get in the way of the stuff they can never hope to grasp.
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