Mom’s Rock! Mother’s Day 2013. Photo Courtesy of Yahoo.com. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL.

It is quite obvious that this is a major shopping weekend and mom’s are definitely showered with gifts. Simply drive by the mall, walk by a florist shop or talk to your local baker. This is a huge weekend for spending money on the one we probably loved first in the world.

Don’t believe me? The National Retail Federation (NRF) has confirmed this is the second biggest shopping weekend of the year. Spending is expected to reach $18.6 billion per their estimates. With those numbers, perhaps we need Mother’s Day once a quarter to help our economy. Nonetheless, alas it’s upon us.

And for those of you who are not taking advantage of getting extra sales this weekend, well just shame on you. What are you waiting on?

Don’t let the fact that perhaps your products aren’t mom-friendly. Another interesting statistic from the NRF’s article is:

Of the 86.5 percent celebrating Mother’s Day this year, nearly 65 percent will shop for their mom or stepmom, while others will buy gifts for their wife (22.4%), daughter (10.5%), grandmother (8.2%), sister (8.4%), friend (7.6%) or godmother (2.1%).

Now this should hopefully open your eyes to getting a piece of this financial windfall this weekend.

Email or text your customers today! Run your social media ads. You can still catch those last-minute shoppers. Offer electronic gift certificates. The NRF expects 1/4 of the gifts to be purchased online, so don’t think it’s too late to get into the game (even if you’re reading this on Mother’s Day).

Get creative. Offer shopping experiences just for women. Even if you’re a B2B (business-to-business company) you can still generate sales and interests in products and services that empower or show appreciation to women.

So what if you’re demographic is predominately male! Still consider doing a sale. Here’s why. According to BIGinsight Executive Vice President Phil Rist, “Many will use the opportunity to comparison shop and research products to save a few bucks, utilizing their mobile and tablet devices at home and in stores as they look for gifts and other ways to celebrate.”  As many people may not be chasing the sporting goods store this weekend, if that’s your industry, you can still offer great ways to save just to draw in the shopper who is just in the mood to shop this weekend.

Now does that have your mind buzzing on what you can do to get even a small share of this “mom money”?

Are you running any specials? If so, share below. You never know who may purchase from you online today!

Oh and by the way, Happy Mother’s Day to the moms and other women operating in that oh so important role. Women Rule! At least this weekend. Enjoy the day ladies! You deserve it!

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Now hiring interns Above Promotions Company, Tampa, FL 2013.

Above Promotions Company, a public relations, marketing and events promotions firm in Tampa, FL is looking for passionate student interns who are want to be on the cutting edge of marketing practices for businesses and the entertainment industry.

Above Promotions works with clients in and out of the Tampa Bay area to provide an array of customized services to help its clients grow in sales and brand awareness.

The interns will work on a wide variety of projects such as:

- Newsletter Creation – Identify and contact key demographics for events and businesses – Social Media Campaign management and creation – SEO tasks and research – Assistant at product launch and promotional events – Some Photoshop/Illustrator design work – Marketing Reports – Storyboard creations (if applicable)

Interns who are a part of the Above Promotions family will:

- Learn valuable research skills from various top international sources

- Meet people in various industries which will help to make connections beyond the internship for personal career growth

- Direct hands on training.

- Attend local, regional or national coveted events.

- Have the opportunity to make others’ dreams come true through creative campaigns

We are looking for passionate freshmen, sophomores and juniors with outgoing personalities who are majoring in general business, marketing or communications to join our intern pool who can commit to 5-10 hours per week.  Must live within the Tampa Bay area and own a vehicle.  Outstanding performance during the trial period may lead to an official paid part-time position with the firm.  Additional details will be provided if selected.

Please send a well thought out cover letter and detailed resume via email with the subject line, “Intern Position” to contactus (@) abovepromotions.com.

An ad for Hyundai’s iX35 Fuel Cell SUV featuring a man’s failed attempt at suicide. Image provided by CNN/Youtube. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL 2013.

It was quite shocking to see in one of my Facebook groups where public relations practitioners gather to share ideas and news to see a video advertisement for one of Hyundai’s new car emissions feature.

You see, well you can by clicking here, that Hyundai decided to show how they have remedied emission issues by showing a person in a car with a pipe running from the exhaust to the inside of a running car with windows up in a closed garage.

According to Copybot and Media Bistro, a copywriter, Holley Brockwell, in London decided to pen an open letter to Hyundai and their advertising agency, Innocean Europe. Her father committed suicide in a car through inhaling fumes and she found the video to be heartbreaking. Not only has Brockwell’s feelings been heard, but so have countless others.

Here are the apologies as given from Hyundai’s U.S. and main office according to CNN.

Hyundai Motor America Statement:

“We at Hyundai Motor America are shocked and saddened by the depiction of a suicide attempt in an inappropriate European video featuring a Hyundai. Suicide merits thoughtful discussion, not this type of treatment.”

 Hyundai Motor Company Statement:

“Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologizes for the offensive viral ad.

The ad was created by an affiliate advertising agency, Innocean Europe, without Hyundai’s request or approval. It runs counter to our values as a company and as members of the community. We are very sorry for any offense or distress the video caused. More to the point, Hyundai apologizes to those who have been personally impacted by tragedy.”

Based on the Innocean Europe Facebook page, they have not issued an apology nor responded to posts on their Facebook wall regarding the commercial.

What do you think? Is this ad “suicide” for their brand?

Reply below and your comments may be used for a future post.

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Related articles

• Hyundai pulls ad that plays suicide for laughs (money.cnn.com)

Crossroads: Change Content or Chang Audience. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL. 2013.

Recently an event Above Promotions Company was co-sponsoring was cancelled due to slow registration. Can you imagine that? A company with a proven track record of helping to sell out events and increase sales at them not being able to quickly fill an event? It was in reality a blow to the ego. Had we lost our mojo? And if so, where did it go? Even this morning as I replied to a couple of emails for late registrants about the event being cancelled, it seems as though the midas touch disappeared or maybe just couldn’t demonstrate the immediate need to register sooner than later. It was odd for us to even cancel the event, but when you’re at a crossroads with others, you make decisions to protect the brand and those involved at all costs.

Really it’s kind of odd any business, let alone a marketing company, would choose to post something like this where the public, current and potential customers would view it, but it’s a reality of doing business. Not every endeavour yields a home run no matter who is at bat.

When you find yourself questioning what went wrong with any promotion or event as a manager, business owner or non-profit leader, you have to inevitably stand at the crossroad and ask yourself what you should do to fix it or improve in the future.

This is where the people hoping to stumble into success is set apart from those that are working diligently at all costs and against all obstacles to obtain it. The person not built for challenges or wind hitting their face, would opt to just stop all together. Instead, the true entrepreneur, the one that believes in taking chances and leaving the fears and worries behind, will say, “Do I change the content (service/product) or do I change the audience?” In my case, I’ve decided to do the latter for that particular event. However, the decision is up to you on how to handle your situation.

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to help you to decide which direction you will take as I hope that none of you are considering quitting as an option.

1. Is there a need for your product or service?
2. Is the quality of the product or service up to par or exceeds the industry?
3. Is it priced to meet the market’s expectations?
4. Is it packaged to address the right audience?
5. Is it easily accessible to your customers?

For our particular case, questions 4 and 5 helped me to realize, the right people were not targeted. Yes, the event was targeted to a potential audience, but it did not address the audience that would see the value in the event and may not have been easily accessible for those who were the target audience.

Now this crossroad isn’t just for what to do in business, but can be broken down to which direction to take in your social media approach to marketing your products or services. If you’re engagement is going down, make a decision to change the content or change the audience your social media account is addressing.

No matter what you’re contemplating, make sure to review the questions above and make the right decision when you’re standing at your crossroads.

What about you? Which numbers helped you in making different business decisions such as changing the content or the audience?

Reply below and your comments may be used for a future post.

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Related articles

• Move Your Business to the Right Social Media Neighborhood (abovepromotions.wordpress.com)
• Company Policies vs The Public (abovepromotions.wordpress.com)

Move Your Business to the Right Social Media Platforms. Photo courtesy of Garann Rose Means. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL 2013.

With hundreds of social media platforms out there, it can be confusing as to where you should be. I mean, who can really expect to be on each one, let alone updating them all.

Of course many of us have a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr accounts, but what about the Reddits, StumbleUpons and Disqus of the social media world? Where do they lie?

It has been often said that “in business you should be everywhere”. And while I do agree you should be everywhere, your return on investment, may not yield a profit from this approach. This holds true offline or online.

As mentioned in my book, “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation”, you must be in the social media game, but at what cost? In fact, do you have any clue what your Social Media ROI is for your business? In the book I provide and explain a formula to use in order to see if you’re balancing your social media expenses within your marketing budget. By measuring and knowing your ROI, you can prove your case to your manager, boss or even yourself as a business owner, if being on Fancy (TheFancy.com) is worth your time and money.

With that said, being everywhere makes sense, at least from keeping people from squatting under your name and brand, but can you still manage to increase any chance of visibility if you’re not updating each account? In fact, with so many people being hacked, would it even be helpful to have an account only to realize when you do log in, someone has taken it over with their spam?

So what’s the solution? Understanding your demographic and the demographics of the social media platform that you are questioning is key. For example, if you’re in the middle-aged women’s fashion industry. You need to be on platforms that support your products or services, like Pinterest.

There are so many different organizations collecting and releasing statistics on a regular basis. The information itself is not hard to obtain. Sites like PewInternet.com provide data that businesses and non-profits can use to target their demographic. Now these sites are just a tool to help guide you, but you at least have some sense of direction as to where you should be.

So if you’re sitting in a dry social media place where leads come every few months, consider moving and concentrating on another platform. Nothing is permanent and no one says you can’t have an address there. Just don’t let it be your primary residence.

What do you think? Do you need to be everywhere? Have you limited your presence to just a few social media sites? How are your leads working there for you? Comment below. You may appear in a future post.

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Staying Out of Trouble. Above Promotions Company, Tampa, FL 2013

Being a small business owner with a small staff makes it easy for mistakes to occur. Some are more costly than others. Although it is never ones intent to get their business into trouble, it happens. But what if you could avoid those mistakes?

What if you knew what building codes would cause immediate issues for you? What if you had a better grasp on what could happen if you run a contest or promotion in your store or on the internet? How about employee law issues? What loan terms should you avoid in borrowing money from the bank? And wouldn’t it be great to hear what other startups did wrong so you could avoid doing so?

On Thursday, April 18th, at CoWork Tampa, LocalShops1.com and Above Promotions Company will be presenting “Staying Out of Trouble“. This event will feature guest panelists from the legal, contracting, human resources and financial fields. All with the goal of giving you top tips that will keep your business from economic or legal trouble.

Panelists members are:

Legal matters: Suzi Marteny, Englander and Fischer

Human resources: Rosilyn Dickerson, Florida Public Employers Labor Relations Association (FPELRA)

Building regulation: Rob Bell, Bell Contracting & Design

Commercial Banking: Max Oligario, JP Morgan Chase

The event will be moderated by Ebony Grimsley of Above Promotions Company and author of “Because You’re Small”.

Grimsley states, “Our goal for this event is to provide whatever information we can to prevent businesses from getting into trouble with other businesses and the government. The panelists are experts in their field and have a wealth of information to provide and are ready to answer questions.”

The featured speaker for the evening is Daniel James Scott, founder of Gazelle Lab and Associate Director of USF-St. Petersburg’s  Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Innovation Alliance. He is one of Tampa Bay’s most influential people in business, technology and entrepreneurship. He has been called an “economic impact player” by Florida Trend magazine, and has a key role in several of the area’s most successful enterprises. Among his numerous awards: 100 Most Influential Business Leaders (Tampa Bay CEO magazine), Best Idea Incubator (Creative Loafing) and Collaboration Award Finalist (Tampa Bay Technology Forum). Daniel will be sharing real life examples of mistakes he has seen startups make.

Come prepared for notes. Come prepared with questions.

For more information or to register for this event, please visit LocalShops1.com or click here to register today.

Will you be in attendance? Have any questions you would like to submit in advance? Leave them in the comments below. See you there!

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

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LocalShops1 is a coalition of hundreds of independently owned businesses and thousands of energized shoppers, with the mission of advocating, promoting and offering support to companies throughout Tampa Bay. Visit http://www.localshops1.com to find out how you can get involved.

Related articles

• Company Policies vs The Public (abovepromotions.wordpress.com)
• Partnering in Business is the Bee’s Knees (abovepromotions.wordpress.com)
• It’s Back!!! (abovepromotions.wordpress.com)
• Facebook Graph Search: Focus On These Two Things Now (abovepromotions.wordpress.com)

#SoldOutChat returns to Twitter. Join Us. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL. 2013.

Yep. After a year hiatus. (Can you really call a year a hiatus?) This is your formal notice that #SoldOutChat is beginning again and will have a new time!

Join our tweetchat every third Wednesday of every month, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST for an informative, fun, interactive conversation geared to getting you closer to Sold Out status.

What Is #SoldOutChat? #SoldOutChat is a monthly moderated tweetchat hosted by Above Promotions Company. Each month we will discuss how to move to a Sold Out status, what could prevent you from reaching it or brands that are doing great things. Case Studies and real life examples will be used to help each organization or brand to reach or come closer to Sold Out status.

Our staff will post the topic for the chat on http://www.abovepromotions.com and our various social media sites. A staff member will help lead our discussion on various topics, from ideas and tips that have worked as well as how to avoid pitfalls in publicity and marketing campaigns.

So, how do you participate in a Tweetchat?

• Do you have a twitter account? If not, you can sign up for one at www.twitter.com.
• On Wednesday at 1:00 pm EST, sign in to Twitter and type #SoldOutChat into the search box.
• You can see all of the tweets for this chat in real time.

Additional ways to make it easier to follow the conversation:

On Hootsuite.com You can create a separate search column for #SoldOutChat. This will allow you to always see the latest discussion using the specific hashtag {#SoldOutChat}.

With Tweetgrid.com or Tweetchat.com, you simply enter in your twitter name and the hashtag you want to follow. It will show you the tweetchat and will automatically add your hashtag {#SoldOutChat} to the end of your tweets. This is an easy way to follow along and participate in the conversation.

If you need additional assistance, please let us know prior to the tweetchat so we can assist you.

*Please note that we cannot guarantee accessibility to the tweetchat due to various factors surrounding Twitter capacity.*

Will you join us?

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Glenwood Gardens. Image courtesy of KPIX and CBS. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL 2013.

On Sunday morning I watched the TODAY Show share a story that went national and outraged many. A story that disturbed the public and one that made me wonder, even as a publicist who studies and practices crisis communications techniques, is there a right way to discuss a company’s policy once it is facing the public? Can the brand survive the public’s feelings?

Here’s the story.

Lorraine Bayless, an 87-year-old resident of Glenwood Gardens, an independent living facility in Bakersfield, California that is owned by Brookdale Living, died after a nurse refused to conduct CPR on the patient. Now we will never know if CPR would have saved Ms. Bayless, however, the outright refusal of a nurse during a 911 call does not settle well with the public. In spite the operator begging the nurse to help the 87-year-old woman by administering CPR, the nurse would not do so nor, allow anyone else in the facility to attempt the life saving technique. Here it is, someone who is thought to help maintain and preserve life, not doing what their job typically entails.

According to the nurse during the call, it is against Brookdale Living’s policy to perform CPR. In fact they released a statement providing condolences to the family, but said its “practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.”

This isn’t something you would expect a facility to say since they employ health professionals, however, after some reading online on other homes, this isn’t an anomaly and perhaps if you have family members in a home, you should learn their policy prior to them taking residence there.

Nonetheless, the twist of the story is that Bayless’ daughter is a nurse and is satisfied with her mother’s treatment. However, the public is not and has taken to the internet to voice their thoughts on the topic.

The public court is loud and fickle. Mistakes in personal or business judgment seem to roll off much easier than policies going against the preservation of life or happiness. Think about PG&E and Chromium VI (the case that made Erin Brockovich famous) and their practices that led to people getting sick. Or what about something as simple Yahoo’s announcement of no more employees working from home. The public has a way of wanting to help others decide how to run a business.

So what does a business owner do when they’re faced with a potential loss of business over their own internal processes? In most cases you’ll find the business, like this one did, say they will carefully review what happened to find out if things were conducted properly. That’s in the basic pr toolbox. With the use of the internet, that excuse only holds for a short period of time. Businesses must be prepared to show why their policies benefit their customers or be prepared to change their services or practices.

It will be interesting to see how Brookdale Living recovers from this death and news story. With facilities across the U.S. they will need to do some extensive crisis communication steps to recover with minimal loss to revenue.

What do you think? How should Brookdale move forward?

Please comment below with your thoughts. They may be used for future articles.

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Related articles

• Senior facility defends nurse who wouldn’t perform CPR on resident (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
• California Woman Dies After Nursing Home Staff Refuses to Administer CPR (whnt.com)
• Nurse At California Senior Facility Refuses CPR To Dying Woman (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com)

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Photo Courtesy of Stuart Miles. Above Promotions Company, Tampa, FL 2013

The week is off to a busy start for brands and their “I’m Sorry” statements. The Onion and Anne Hathaway caused a stir during the 2013 Oscars. Then DKNY squares off with the public and a photographer. It’s not even Wednesday morning yet!

Let’s start with The Onion, a satire website known for targeting news related topics and even making controversial news itself. Remember their “joke” that there was shooting and kids taken hostage at the Capitol in 2011? (After Newton, you would hope they wouldn’t try that “joke” again.) So can we say it’s too far off that they would once again use a child, actress Quvenzhané Wallis, to make a “joke”? More than likely it wasn’t the same person, but who do the staff at The Onion get their ideas and approvals from before going public? Who would really think that it would be acceptable to call a child an inappropriate name like cu** (see article for story and full word) on Twitter during the Academy Awards? Is there any code of conduct at their company? If so, wouldn’t children be on the list to leave alone by now?

Nonetheless, they have felt the wrath of the public. It took less than an hour to remove the tweet, yet the question left lingering by many public relations professionals, why did it take so long for Steve Hannah, the CEO of The Onion, so long to apologize to Ms. Wallis? Also, why was his apology not the first thing the company posted on Twitter the following day?

The Academy Awards are supposed to be about the works by hard-working film professionals, yet crude words and fashion seemed to reign the following morning. Who would have known something so simple as changing a dress would result in Anne Hathaway, winner for her work with Les Miserables, needing to publicly apologize to Valentino? Apparently her last-minute dress change not only caused a stir on the red carpet for her breasts being amplified, but for wearing Prada and not Valentino. A dress selection change seems like no big deal, but someone failed to let Valentino know or Valentino’s team failed to update the media. It now appears as though she left the fashion house hanging after they publicly released a statement indicating she was going to wear a dress by Valentino where she in turn chose Prada.

Compared to the Ms. Wallis issue, the Valentino one seems to be a light issue during the Oscars. But if we were to look at fashion-to-fashion issues, DKNY takes the cake or award for the “I’m Sorry” award. After not coming to an agreement on the pricing for Brandon Staton’s, a New York photographer’s, images for window displays for DKNY, the images appeared in a window display in Thailand. Once Staton found out, he decided to take the issue to Facebook instead of court. He challenged the fashion giant to donate $100,000 to a YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn instead of paying him for the images. DKNY was quick to respond explaining the mistake and in turn offered to donate $25,000. Since that offer the public has made it clear that their donation was not enough and that another $75,000 should be donated.

Although it’s doubtful the executives at DKNY will offer more, not due to lack of desire, but to prove the point that their company will not be held hostage to the demands of others. With DKNY’s help or not, Staton and others around the world are working hard to raise the additional money that DKNY wouldn’t offer. Check out their Indiegogo campaign here.

DKNY may have immediately and publicly lost the most in front of their fans financially, it is still left to be seen the impact of The Onions’ mistake.

Whew! It’s not even a full week and these brands have kept the internet stirring.

What do you think? Do you agree with the responses to the public for these apologies?

Please comment below with your thoughts. They may be used for future articles.

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.

Related articles

• Anne Hathaway Apologizes for Last-Minute Oscar Dress Switch (peoplestylewatch.com)
• DKNY uses photographers artwork without permission & thinks $25 000 = $100 000 (adland.tv)
• The Onion Apologizes For Tweet About Quvenzhané Wallis (artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com)

Marco Rubio’s Poland Spring Water Tweet pic. Image Courtesy of Marco Rubio and Twitter. Above Promotions Company. Tampa, FL. 2013.

Last night’s GOP rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address given by Marco Rubio created quite the stir on social media. Twitter went ablaze with jokes on Rubio’s off-camera reach for a bottle of Poland Spring water. Since then more tweets and news stories covering the drinking of water has sparked a lot of online comments from political followers. However, more surprisingly has been the discussion on Poland Spring water’s Facebook page. Some are wondering why the Nestle brand has not responded to any of the online chatter.

“Come on people, you get the #1 FREE media w/Marco Rubio taking a swig of a Poland Spring water bottle and there’s crickets coming from your social marketing …” – Victoria K.

“How have you guys not posted about your superfan Marco Rubio?” – Raman S.

And John D. wrote, “NOW IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE, Poland Spring social media manager!”

But in the professional communications’ circles, many would agree, that no comment by Nestle is the best stance to the brief and probably much appreciated shine that the few seconds brought them.

Here’s why:

• Jumping into a political arena showing support or disdain for Rubio’s use of their brand, could cause more hurt in sales than anything else.
• The moment, although great product placement, is appearing as not staged. Any discussion surrounding being happy for their time in the spot light, may cause others to consider it was more or less agreed upon in advance rather than being at the right place at the right time.
• One wrong turn with the online chatter could be misconscrewed as a part of the Poland Spring brand.
• None of this is following their “Born Better” tag line for the brand, at least it couldn’t be associated positively without touching on the first point above.
• It’s not as though Rubio began to choke on the water or mention any disgust for its taste. It’s not as though the water was a part of a crime investigation. (See Skittles and AriZona Iced Tea.)

Although Nestle can safely capitalize off of the promotion from “water bottle gate”, there is no need to push it further. Some moments are just that and should be left to the public to run with them.

What do you think? Should Nestle respond?

Please comment below with your thoughts. They may be used for future articles.

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Above Promotions is a full service publicity, marketing and promotions company, founded with the purpose to serve an array of clients that are looking to expand their presence in the marketplace. From a local to international market, Above Promotions Company can provide the exposure that goes above your expectations. Visit http://www.abovepromotions.com today.

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Ebony T. Grimsley is the Creative Director and Owner of Above Promotions Company. She is also the recent author of “Because You’re Small: Effective Marketing Strategies for Immediate Implementation.” To find out more information on the book, please visit http://www.abovepromotions.com or purchase online at Amazon, Booktango and other online bookstores.