Crustgate

I was going to write a very long post about Crustgate, but Warlach pretty much read my mind and posted what I was thinking. You can read Warlach's post here.

I was among the first responders to Crust's original tweet, a fact that got me quoted on mUmbrella - something I was quite surprised to see! (By the way, does that make me some sort of celebrity who is going to get free champagne and designer clothes? No? Ok then.)

I wasn't particularly offended by the tweet, but I was disappointed. The video had absolutely no link to their product. It was poorly made (were some of those so-called female drivers even women? You couldn't see) and there was no witty, thought provoking message. I honestly thought that as a brand, Crust was better than that.

In advertising - and these days that means any forum in which you are participating in using your company's name - you need to think your message through. It's obvious that in this instance it wasn't. It went from a promotional tweet to something totally inappropriate for the company's image.

Crust is to be commended on their swift handling and apology - it's the one part of this storm in a teacup that they handled really well. I'm still waiting on the call they promised that the PR company would give me though.