A Series of Missteps
Newsletter #110
This Week:
Lessons from Bauer
ICYMI: Writing Great Events Emails
Spotted
Before We Go…
1. Bauer’s Brand Protection Backfire
Brands make mistakes. And, unfortunately, in the era of TikTok, those mistakes get amplified.
Sometimes that amplification is a gift. It forces a brand to take accountability and refine its processes. Other times, it becomes a case study in what not to do.
Recently, TikTok user @pavvythegoalie, a small creator who posts hockey gear reviews, shared a largely positive video reviewing hockey gear brand Bauer’s newest catalog. She has posted several complimentary videos about the brand before. She wasn’t a mega-influencer. She wasn’t angling for sponsorships. She just likes hockey gear.
So when the Bauer social media team reached out asking for her email to discuss a possible collaboration, she was understandably excited.
But when the highly anticipated email came through, she was instead rocked. Instead of a collaboration invitation, she received a cease-and-desist letter demanding she take down the video.
It only got worse from there.
2. ICYMI: The Humble “Know Before You Go” Email
The other day, one EO Report writer received a very well-written “Know Before You Go” email to an upcoming concert. The only problem was that she didn’t have tickets to that particular show.
A second email followed quickly after, explaining the error.
It reminded us of this previous EO Report article about how to write the perfect, ever-important pre-event email.
3. Spotted
If your website and materials haven’t switched from the Twitter bird to the X icon, it’s time! We weren’t sure at first if the rebrand would stick, but it’s clear it’s here to stay.
4. Before We Go…
From Chartr: Spotify soars as Q4 monthly average user growth and gross margins set records
1 in 11 people now use the music streaming service each month. If you have some paid advertising dollars, it’s definitely a platform to watch.
From The New York Times: Why kids are starting to sound like their grandparents
Yap. Skedaddle. Diabolical. Goon. Sheesh. They’re all terms of yesteryear making a resurgence. Why?
From Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: How US audiences think about news
“A new study by the Pew Research Center suggests US audiences are evenly split between those who mostly get news because they are seeking it out and those who mostly let news find them. Older Americans are much more likely to be amongst those actively seeking out news. News fatigue is also widespread, with half of the sample saying they are worn out by the amount of news these days and the same percentage complaining most of the news they come across is not relevant to their lives.”
“In next to no time, one person is going to be able to sit at a computer and create a movie indistinguishable from what Hollywood now releases. True, if that person is no good, it will suck. But if that person possesses Christopher Nolan’s talent and taste (and someone like that will rapidly come along), it will be tremendous.”
Are you prepared for the AI shift? Microsoft, one of the largest drivers of AI, is predicting that most white-collar tasks such as law, marketing, accounting, and project management, will be automated by AI within the next 18 months.
Forward The EO Report to a friend who loves juicy internet drama that could have been prevented.