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Since I was offered an internship at Weber Shandwick (that starts in August), I’ve added a column to my TweetDeck to monitor what people are saying about them. Yesterday, I noticed a post from @CraigPWood, an advertising and PR professor at Indiana University.
He said:
Now, if you haven’t heard yet, Weber Shandwick and DiGiorno paired up and created a social media campaign for the launch of DiGiorno’s new flatbread pizza. The efforts included targeting influential bloggers and Twitter users. The idea? In short, people who host Tweet-Ups in LA, Chicago and NYC can experience DiGiorno flatbread pizza at their meeting.
Now, in my experience as an intern at Chipotle, I learned that you can rave about a product all you want, but putting it in the public’s hands is what really works. Chipotle spends little money on advertising, and a lot of money on feeding people through “hosted lunches”, where I’d bring in a big ole box o’ burritos, talk about Chipotle and their food, and then feed the group.
So when DiGiorno decided to do the same thing (with a twist) I was floored. I think it’s a genius plan. And adding some personality to the brand never hurt anyone. This is the tweet from @DiGiornoPizza that upset @CraigPWood and spawned our lively discussion:
Harmless and fun, I thought. But apparently the Gossip Girl tweet wasn’t appreciated by Craig.
The short of it? Craig thinks that the DiGiorno account is deceptive. That Weber Shandwick isn’t ethical in the delivery of their messages (no pun intended).
He also said this:
Which makes me wonder, are we coming up on “old-school” PR vs. the PR of the future, much like journalism has been for the past few years? Is there going to be a generational gap between practitioners? On one side of the river, the old-school PR pros that are skeptical of social and how it’s shaping the industry. On the other side, PR pros like those on the DiGiorno team at Weber that are plowing through the industry with new ways to deliver the messages?
My thoughts? I think that the DiGiorno campaign is mixing marketing methods that are proven to work (let them taste it, don’t just tell them how great it tastes), and new methods, like Twitter, to deliver the ones that are tried and true. I don’t think there is any deception here. It’s been made perfectly clear who’s behind the DiGiorno campaign, and it was widely talked about it in my network on Twitter.
The methods are changing. I told Craig that the DiGiorno campaign was more effective than just a release about the new pizza. It’s a combination of the traditional tactics (releases, media alerts, etc) and the new social media tactics that will set a campaign on fire. None of these tactics can stand alone, they must be used in combination.
Social media is just a way to send the message. The best part about using tactics like Twitter is that participation is optional, if people don’t want to listen, they don’t have to. DiGiorno can learn a lot about their audience by seeing who is following. Granted, the Twitter audience won’t represent their target audience as a whole, but it does give them an idea of who is listening on that medium.
What do you think about more brands taking up Twitter as a way to push their product? What do you think about agencies that are implementing these tactics? Why aren’t more PR practitioners tapping into these networks to get exposure?
Do you think there is a gap forming between old-school PR pros and the new-age PR pros? Will social media ever catch on with the old-schoolers?
And before you leave, make sure you check out my disclaimer in the About Me section. Thanks 