Newsjacking

Newsjacking. I can't believe I hadn't heard this word until the Superbowl power outage - but it's great.

When the lights went out at the Mercedes-Benz sponsored MBUSA stadium for the US's biggest sporting event of the year, Audi tweeted "Sending some LEDs to the @MBUSA Superdome right now...". Brilliant. A controversial 'burn' directed to their competitor's biggest night of the year garnering over 10,000 retweets.

Meanwhile Oreos were on the ball with a near instant Facebook update with this image: winning over 20,000 likes... Oreo are pretty good on Facebook.

Hijacking news events and riding the publicity wave is a core PR skill, for B2C, B2B and corporations - and it's so much FUN. Whether it's these funny takes on national (or competitor) events, or more serious use of events to remind people of your brand, the newsworthiness of your story gets a boost from the free publicity wave - effectively hijacking someone else's news. And social media is the perfect medium, making this a relatively new skill where the fastest responses are the winners. So, ear to the ground everyone - who's news can you steal?

See the hubspot site for more examples.

Boeing and B2B - trust, risk and reputation

The charred remains of a Dreamliner lithium ion battery

As the new Dreamliner aeroplane is grounded around the world, Boeing face the task of rebuilding the brand's reputation amongst airlines and passengers, assuring both that the Dreamliner (Boeing 787) is a safe and viable alternative to well established Airbus A350.

After problems with burnt out lithium batteries during routine flights, airlines around the world began to ground their Dreamliner fleets, until the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration took the decision to ground ALL Dreamliners around the globe. The Dreamliner is the world's most fuel efficient airliner - a mid-size aeroplane carrying 210-290 passengers and designed to compete with Airbus A350.

Boeing convinced 57 B2B customers that they could trust the brand to deliver a safe and efficient flying experience that kept passengers, regulators and the their accounts departments happy. However that trust is on the line as airlines replace burnt out batteries, face public scrutiny and lose sections of their fleet for perhaps weeks - with ongoing scepticism of the plane by future passengers who may fear flying in them. A great example to support the B2B lecture on this module - and to watch for how Boeing handle this crisis. Would you risk millions on a Dreamliner? What do Boeing need to do claw back the trust these batteries have burnt out?