Beta and the outdoor industry analyse the Mumsnet cock-up

[morningpaper]

The Mumsnet Incident in Brandrepublic

Garry's chum Robert:

"Don't mess with Mumsnet. It is like wrestling with an octopus. There is huge diversity within it. There are those with political ambitions as well as many looking for advice and support and everything in between. They can organise themselves very quickly. The conversation is relatively serious during the day and gets pretty wild in the evening - we found threads about wife-swapping, gangbangs, "bumsex" and drugging babies with alcohol."

PLANNER (and mum to be) - Amelia Torode, head of strategy and innovation, VCCP:

"It was astounding to watch it all happen in real time, though, from the first reaction to the haiku about Garry (Lace)'s penis size."

AGENCY HEAD - Cilla Snowball, chairman, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO:

"But the key postmortem question is one of judgment and establishing why
the ad got cleared to run. It's patently horrible, untrue and offensive
and should never have seen the light of day.

That's a very interesting article - and (posturing by (Beta) aside, would suggest thaat this was a very important lesson for them. But as this quote shows:

"AGENCY HEAD - James Murphy, founding partner, Adam & Eve
"In this industry, we're only just getting used to our peers criticising
us, so when it's members of the public, it's totally alien."

... that they still don't quite get it! they totally fail to realise that members of the MN community may very well be their peers. We're clearly downgraded to 'members of the public' who are obviously inferior to those who work in the hallowed advertising world!

Interesting - a nice tone of unrepentance running through it.

But "Mumsnet skilfully spun their side of
the story out on to the internet and to carefully placed friends in the
press" - really? They don't seem to have understood how these things work - it seemed to me to be less about strategy and more the inevitable consequence of the fact that members Mumsnet and Twitter and blog, and so of course issues like this will spiral.

I want to read the book.

When you read the comments in full, particularly Cilla Snowball's, it doesn't look as though Beta have much support for their campaign or their subsequent handling of the unfolding situation even amongst their peer group.

Women with access with computers and with more than one thought in their pretty, decorative heads? Whatever next?

I do agree with them on one point however...as I too still feel aggrieved on behalf of poor little Garry....

What is amusing is the other agency people clearly think that the Beta lot are knobbers who made a mistake then made it even worse by squawking for their lawyers.
And I agree that the silly sods (like most 'advertising and marketing' types I have encountered) don't think 'the public' are human.
Oh and a nice smear there from Robert with the pretty broad hint that everyone's drugging their babies with alcohol in order to spend their evenings partnerswapping for bumsex. Because, after all, these 'uppity' women must all be sexually insatiable and neglectful parents, mustn;t they? Or they would know their place is in the home and not be offended.

I want to be called Cilla Snowball!

This is a bit of a frivolous comment but I think Cilla Snowball is a fantastic name. How could you not succeed when you have a name like that

Beta don't sound like they have a lot of fans, do they?

I sill sounds like they have a lot of lessons to learn about advertising to me

beta, for example...

PMSL that Amelia Torode managed to mention "the haiku about Garry (Lace)'s penis size."

Do you think she's a mumsnetter?

Beta still dont understand, thats clear. They seem to think that if only they had managed to control the talk better, they would have succeeded. No you wouldnt, because we were never going to jump just because some man said jump! We've done this particular subject to death many times - pick something original next time, and interest us.

morningpaper - can't you bribe Justine to send them to us secretly, next time you're at MNHQ?

I didnt get to read them before they were deleted.

Ooh that's interesting

I am genuinely puzzled that anyone would think it's a good idea to threaten legal action because a bunch of women are sniggering about your penis size. [Insert comment about brain size of Garry's chum here]

That is an interesting read, it's true that real time response now is hugely important! The power of blogs etc is such that no company can afford not to respond ASAP

"Mumsnet skilfully spun their side of
the story out on to the internet and to carefully placed friends in the
press"

THey sound like they've totally got the wrong end of the stick there. As if 'mumsnet' is Justine and Carrie and they've galvanised all these gobby women to campaign against the ad campaign.

They don't seem to have grasped that they just managed to offend a lot of people!

gawd - I play too many games online obviously - I was thinking "BETA" as in - programme in deelopment beta

But ghouls didn't you know we've all been brainwashed to think the same, that's why AIBU is so quiet and friendly

"THey sound like they've totally got the wrong end of the stick there. As if 'mumsnet' is Justine and Carrie and they've galvanised all these gobby women to campaign against the ad campaign."

Someone hasn't got the point of social media... which is pretty piss-poor for an ad firm.

If you do something which people find offensive, and find lots of people from MN hate you then either:

1. Large numbers of people on MN have read what you've said, and are offended each on an individual basis, and then discuss the wide ranging offense felt.

or

2. Justine et al read what you wrote, disapproved, put up the batsignal, and summoned their unquestioning and obedient slavering hordes of trolls to fuck you up, MN style.

FFS, this place is like herding cats. Anyone who thinks 2 is remotely credible must have been hiding under a rock since AOL started sending out CDs...

Cilla Snowball [teenage sniggery snurk]

I bet she's a lorra lorra fun.

Sorry, I have nothing else to add.

it#s just so mortifying that lace cannot take a joke about his knob, what kind of a man must he be? s'okay for him to slag all 'career' women with children off on buses, but he can't handle a haiku about his willie?

and yyy to the peers thing. slow handclap on the bumsex front, i hope that crew are thrilled at the mention. drugging kids with alcohol is where?

is cilla snowball a real name? oh how magnificent.