When Bad Timing Happens to Good PR & Marketing

When Bad Timing happens to Good PR.

It’s bound to happen. A product launch or some other such corporate event is over shadowed by world events.

The Asian Tsunami, which killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, is but one example of this on a world scale.

Some examples:

• 50-foot Wave – releases their first CD later this year reports The Miami Herald
• Tsunami Research – complete with a “killer wave” logo will completely rebrand the company according to today’s Wall Street Journal.
• Similarly, other companies with the “tsunami” moniker are also considering rebranding their images, including water parks with wave pools.

So what do you do:

In the band’s case, move forward, donate money to relief efforts and live the notoriety, much, like the band Anthrax.

Tsunami Research needs a complete re-branding and communications program to reach out to their constituents, customers and other internal / external audiences, otherwise it could be confused as a tsunami think tank or worse, as trying to take economic advantage of tragedy.


AJR’s bad timing event:

Stop the Hunger, a Miami-based food bank that feeds the poor and a pro-bono AJR client, was giving away complete Thanksgiving dinners 1 week prior to the holiday. All local media were pitched and many TV stations confirmed their coverage.

Bad timing: same day of our event, there was anti-FTA protests in downtown Miami and the police were firing tear gas and water cannons at the protestors. While we gave away free turkeys and trimmings, our event was a turkey.

However, we took digital photos and were able to send post-event picture after Thanksgiving for local coverage and salvage the day's event.