Brands need to listen to online chatter

For weeks now, I've been complaining about getting e-marketing spam from Land's End. I tried to unsubscribe. Each time to no avail and every time I failed to unsubscribe, I posted a message on Twitter. I just couldn't stop them from coming. It was brutal.

Fast forward to Thursday of this past week. I opened up mail on my macbook pro and there it was, yet another Land's End email. That was it. That was the final straw. I posted a message to Twitter and I posted this video:



Then, a short while later, I get a Twitter message from @mymo that brings me closer to a resolution:

@bigguyd DM your email to @LandsEndChat They will get you unsubscribed. LE isn't perfect but we are on twitter. :)

Cool. Seconds later I get this message on Twitter from @daddymacWI:

@bigguyd @HappyHourBoston Lands' End is listening. We do not want to send unwanted email. Every email we send has an unsubscribe link.

Well, if that was the case, I'd be able to unsubscribe. The options weren't that clear. Trust me. I tried. Thus, my various rants.

I pinged them with my email address and said basically that this was the last straw and that I was going to go postal if there was no resolution ASAP.

A short while after the Twitter exchange, I get this email:

Thanks for the feedback Don. I have unsubscribed your email address. You may still get an email tomorrow and/or Saturday, but they should be stopped after that. I apologize for any unwanted email you have received from Lands' End. We listen to customer comments and value your input.

Thank you for reaching out via Twitter.

I did end up getting one more email, but so far, during the past two days, no emails from Land's End. Thank goodness.

What's the lesson here for consumers AND brands? People are listening. The power of social media is amazing and there's no better way to interact with a brand than through Twitter. It's one to one communications. Brands that are not using Twitter should. If they aren't, they are missing a big opportunity to improve their customer service. If the brands are listening, i.e. a company executive or marketing/PR exec, then their agencies should be. That's we do at MS&L. We build it into every program. It's THAT important.

So thanks to Land's End for listening and taking care of my e-mail unsubscribe problem. Nice to know people are listening and taking action. Read more!

D&D and Green

So D&D opened up a green store in Florida. It's funny how the company thinks that this is a great move when folks posting to the comments section see right through it.

How can the store really call itself green when they pump out foam cups faster than drug dealers and crack on street corners? Oh yea, don't forget about all the plastic cups that aren't recycled.

Overall, I think the idea is great and more businesses and companies should operate in an environmentally conscious way, but don't a store a green store if it's not green all the way through.

This is a classic case of green washing. Read more!

What the heck is happening over at MassBay?

I'm sort of a higher ed junkie. Seeing that I have a ton of PR experience in education - both at the college and prep school level, I tend to read a lot about the space. I read this piece about MassBay College in Inside Higher Education this morning and thought to myself, man, this school needs some reputation management help.

The track record for the president doesn't look good. First a no confidence vote by the faculty. Then a slew of firings and resignations. No vocal support from the school's community other than the board. What dirt does she have on board members that is keeping her around? That's the conclusion I can come to. The only constant in the story is the president herself. She's the reason people have resigned. Those that don't do things her way see to get fired.

I'm very surprised that the Globe hasn't picked up on this story yet. A clean sweep of the president's entire upper level management is a pretty big story. Yes, I know it's MassBay and not Harvard, but still. If my kid was attending MassBay, I'd want answers and not a fluffed up letter from the school talking about positive changes and a new direction. Read more!

Pats OL Kaczur: Poppin' Pills, Getting Busted, DEA Informant?

So the crap keeps hitting the fan for the Patriots. Globe breaks a story in this mornings paper about Starting New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur being arrested in April on a charge of illegal possession of prescription painkillers. Then apparently, big boy secretly cooperated with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in a sting operation that resulted in the indictment of his alleged drug supplier.

Great. Let's add this to the pile of cow dung that's starting to stink up the organization.

In no random order, the Pats seemingly invincible has been pierced with stories such as spy gate, HGH and Cheech and Chong. Oh yea, don't forget about that almost 19-0 thing.

If any organization needs a little PR love in terms of its reputation, it might just be the Pats. Read more!