Berocca's Blogger Relief - #PRFail?

Last month all round pick-me-up product Berocca generated a nice bit of online buzz among bloggers by giving away 'Blogger Relief Packs'.

The packs contained a tube Berocca and other neat giveaways and to get one you had to register by entering a set of personal details. But as Stephen Davies pointed out at the time:

"it seems there are no guarantees of receiving one [pack] and reading the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) they’re only giving the pack away to the first 50 applications. Another caveat in the T&Cs is that they may use my details for future marketing activity and potentially share them with third parties in relation to Bayer plc, the company behind Berocca."

Standard T&Cs perhaps or a underhand way to spam bloggers? Either way I signed up for a pack.

But a month on and no pack. I Twittered to see if others received their packs and Clashcityrocker she had indeed received her pack.

Now, I get that there were limited packs available, but why not a short email from Berocca to say they have run out and I've not been lucky. The whole affair seems a bit short-sighted, lazy blogger relations and a #PRFail if you ask me.

Technorati tags: Berocca, blogger relations

Comments

[James Whatley]

Dude,

I can see why you're not that impressed but I think you're being a bit harsh.

Seeing a non-techy brand even attempt to engage the blogosphere on such a direct level is something I've got a lot of time for.

Yeah, they weren't *that* clear about how many they had and guarantees of delivery etc...

And yes, I agree, a note from them saying "Sorry, no dice" or the equivalent there of would've helped out a little bit.

But hey, maybe they'll learn from this and see. I mean - that's what test and learn campaigns are for right?

Don't get me wrong, the lack of joined-up thinking in any industry really, really gets to me. But, I think in this instance, given the brand involved and the nature of the campaign... I think they did alright. Not brilliant, certainly not a FAIL.. but not bad for a first attempt.

Cheers,

J.

PS - Disclosure - I got my one just fine ;)

[Simon Collister]

Hi James. I agree with you to an extent; and maybe I am being a bit harsh. But I disagree that what Berocca did was "direct engagement".

Requiring personal info via a contact form isn't engagement - at least not in terms of relationship building, which is what I believe online engagement should be about.

Of course, they could have built on this by reachiong out to bloggers who received packs and - perhaps more importantly, those who didn't.

A big part of engaging is also about listening to conversations about your brand. But it doesn't seem Berocca have done/are doing that either. They haven't followed up on the transparency issue surrounding limited packs and the request form is still live despte there being no packs left.

So my judgement is that Berocca exploited a news story to gain some marketing data. Maybe that *is* a bit harsh but if theye were serisu about tsting and learning then they would listening to bloggers, rather than gloting over the buzz.

What a cynic!

[James Whatley]

Actually - I agree with your argument... You've won me over.

I happen to be reviewing my Social Media strategy doc I wrote in February of this year and one of the key points of the presentation is:

"Keep the conversation going..."

So - to come back to my 'lack of joined-up thinking' comment: It looks like they haven't gone that one extra bit...

Maybe.
They may yet do...

Nicely put Sir.
:)

[Simon COllister]

Ha! Thanks. See they bought you out at some level because of the freebies ;-)

[Matthew Watson]

Very disappointed that I didn't receive my free blogger pack. They could have sent out a free tube of Berocca or even just a free tablet with a note explaining that I wasn't one of the first fifty to apply but they still valued the time I spent filling in the form. Even a voucher by e-mail would have made my day and prevented my goodwill towards the brand from dissolving like a giant Berocca. Tesco effervescent vitamin tablets from now on!