How To (Really) Fail At Your Social Media Campaign

Let me start with this: evidently, many people cannot spell Qantas. That is never good for a brand. There are probably more people typing “Quantas” out there.  Maybe they need a (social media) campaign just to imprint the right name in people’s minds. But I digress.

Now back to our story.  Still fresh from last month’s shocking global plane-grounding incident that left many smarting from time, money, and sanity losses, Qantas launched a social media campaign on Twitter, asking fans to respond to what they think is a dream luxury inflight experience. The most creative answer would be given a gift pack that includes Qantas pajamas and a luxury amenity kit.

What were they thinking? Qantas PJs? Really??

Needless to say, the campaign drew all sorts of wrong attention & tweets, such as:

And evidently, for some people, the Grand Prize of pajamas and an amenity set got some people going and their tweets were laced with sarcasm, such as:

Even (fake) Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Airlines, even got into the action with a tweet of his own:

Now, I think that the best has got to be this video meme of Hitler as Alan Joyce. Watch it and laugh!

This video is not available on Youku.

But seriously, the morale of the story is that when you are in quicksand, you should stop swimming or you’ll sink even further. In Qantas’ case, they’ve gone 5 feet below. This tweet sums it all up. ‘Nuff said.

Social Media campaigns, like any other campaigns, can and will pay off when it is strategized, planned & well executed. Needless to say, timing is always crucial. For Qantas, they failed. However, kudos to them for (still) having a sense of humor!

PS: If you’re interested to know what went on during the 2-day drama when Qantas was grounded, you can read the play-by-play here.