Vaseline made headlines recently when a former English cricketer Michael Vaughan tweeted, “Has Vaseline on the outside edge saved the day for Laxman?”
Though he used it in a negative context because Laxman allegedly used the substance to manipulate the Hot Spot technology, the tweet immediately caught media attention and became a commentator’s talking point. In this frenzy, Vaseline grabbed eyeballs. So, Vaseline immediately, issued an ad addressing Michael Vaughan directly, highlighting what the product exactly does.
Vaughan unintentionally may have done Vaseline a favour as Navroze Dhondy, Founder CEO, Creatigies Communications Pvt Ltd says, “Vaseline has captalised on its brand name, used this opportunity get more attention.”
Sometimes, brands get millions of dollars worth of free advertisements just by having someone famous utter their name. When US President Barack Obama openly declared that he would be using his BlackBerry, the company/brand got instant positive recognition for free.
Closer home Zandu Balm got the best publicity campaign for its product for free when Malaika Arora uttered Main Zandu Balm hui, Darrrling tere liye in the super-hit song Munni Badnaam Hui. Initially, the company felt the makers of Dabangg had no right to use their brand in a song, but after seeing how it brought their balm national recognition all over again, they decided to not sue and instead got Malaika to dance for their advert!
However, not all accidental or random associations are good for a brand’s publicity. Lacoste was in every paper as the Norway shooter was seen sporting the brand in every picture that was released of him after the horrid incident. Lacoste realised nothing good can ever come from this, so they just kept mum about the issue and hoped nobody took notice of their logo on the shooter’s clothes. That was wise on their part as Mark Samuel, senior creative director, JWT Hyderabad, says, “Sometimes it’s sensible to remain silent.”
Also, Lacoste has nothing to worry about as Anshumani Khanna, associate director, ad firm Mudra says, “The shooter does not represent the brand. In this case it’s about shooting. Think about it.
Hypothetically, if the shoe thrown on George W. Bush was made by Bata, it throws light on the incident, but not the brand.”
But John Galliano, the disgraced former head designer of Christian Dior was not so lucky as he represented the brand. He immediately got the boot for making anti-semitic statements.
You also have to pray that rival brands don’t take advantage of your misfortune. Navroze says, “Few years ago, Michael Jackson was the brand ambassador for Pespi and had called off a concert in South East Asia due to dehydration. Weeks after the incident Coke shot back with a commercial saying, ‘Drink Coke and don’t be dehydrated’.”