A covert operation: Naked causes social media uproar

It was only last week that I was talking about the use of social media and viral videos in particular to promote a brand and cause.

I was specifically drawing a comparison between Tourism Queensland’s fake viral video that appeared on YouTube with a woman getting a tattoo of the ‘dream job’ advertisement on her arm and comparing it with the video of Heidi Clarke, the woman with a jacket to return to a mysterious man that she met in the Sydney CBD.

Early last week it hadn’t been confirmed whether this last video was a fake but now it has been revealed that it indeed is a spoof. It has also been revealed that this is the work of Australian strategy consultancy, Naked Communications.

This misleading viral campaign has caused major uproar in social media and has captured many negative comments. These comments are mostly around the idea of using social media to mislead consumers in order to promote a particular cause and also particularly negative comments about the agency itself.

Was it a clever video? Yes. Did it get people talking? Yes. So much so that this actually caused a stir in both online and offline world. Would it have caused as much of a stir in social media if Tourism QLD hadn’t recently admitted to its hoax video? I’m actually doubtful although I don’t necessarily agree with these sorts of covert marketing tactics.

Naked Communications has taken a beating because of its actions. This is a mistake that anyone could have made and one that a lot are probably guilty of but yet to be found out about just yet. Although I caveat this by saying that we are likely to see a domino effect here and I’m sure there are many more dominos that will start to fall now.

We can take a lesson from this. Many savvy marketers are talking about the use of covert marketing and tactics in order to raise brand awareness and eyebrows. Many people believe that this is clever marketing and gets consumer excited. We need to be aware that this is clearly not the case. This sort of behaviour on social media is simpe not acceptable.

Perhaps we need to go right back to social media 101 again. Do we need to retrain people on the core principles that underpin this very medium? It’s all about honesty, authenticity and transparency. And you’re most certainly damned if you don’t!

Just look at the flack that the likes of Vespa and Sony have attracted in this past year for using covert marketing as a means to promote a cause. Vespa – slammed! Sony Fake Tourist campaign – slammed!

I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on misleading viral campaigns. Do you have any other examples you can share. What other big companies are using covert marketing as a means of promotion?