Oh my, a handbook case of how you don't seed a brand on the web is Cillit Bangs latest gaffe. Tom Coates at plasticbag.org tells about the crass commercial message he received as comment spam to a heartfelt post he made about his feelings for his estranged father here: Cillit Bang and a new low for marketers [1].
Barry Scott, the cillit bang guy in the UK chirped in with a comment, just to be able to link his weblog, barryscott.blogs.com [2]. How tacky. (I wonder if the Danish cillit bang guy, Jakob Holm has a blog as well).
Tom tracks the comment spam, via Y&R's IP number, through to JWT and then to Reckitt Benckiser [3], and he rings them up asking what the hell they're doing. You should go and read the whole story [4]. The Cillit Bang marketing team have since apologised [5], but as I always say "Don't be sorry, just don't do it in the first place!"
This is such a shame, as Cillit Bang already had the coveted cult reputation, thanks to its silly name, the over the top ad, the Cillit Bang, the hardcore cleaning sensation [6] eurotrash techno remix which is brilliant, and finally the ad ban! [7]. You don't mess with this sort of success people!
(and yes, it is funny that this post comes straight after is Buzz illegal? [8] IMHO)
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