Blog Tracker
09-05-2012, 16:00
Visit the Pete Brown's Beer Blog site (http://petebrown.blogspot.com/2012/05/someone-formerly-at-diageo-is-probably.html)
It's the drinks PR omnishambles that makes George Osborne look like a competent chancellor.
Brew Dog have long been known for their spectacular PR stunts, but the storm that broke on Twitter today seemed breathtaking even by their standards.
In this sensational statement (http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/diageo-v-brewdog), Brew Dog claimed that at the Scottish BII Awards last weekend (http://www.bii.org/events/2012/05/06/484), Brew Dog were voted clear winners of the Bar Operator of the Year Award. They knew this because the judges were sitting at their table and told them so. So everyone was surprised when another company's name was read out, with judges saying, 'That's not possible.'
The plot thickened when the 'winners' took the stage and refused to accept the trophy because it had Brew Dog's name engraved on it!
Later, according to Brew Dog, the BII phoned and said this had happened because Diageo, the main sponsors of the award, had threatened BII officials, warning them that any future sponsorships would be cancelled if the award was presented to Brew Dog.
Another stunt?
Well... no. Brew Dog are famous for stunts, but this would be suicide if it were not true. And this was all about the bars - say what you like about the sensationalism of the head honchos, love or hate the brand, but as I've said repeatedly, the bars are about nothing but genuine passion and hard work. Could this really be spin and exaggeration?
No, it couldn't.
I asked Diageo for a statement, and here it is:
“There was a serious misjudgement by Diageo staff at the awards dinner on Sunday evening in relation to the Bar Operator of the Year Award, which does not reflect in anyway Diageo’s corporate values and behaviour.
“We would like to apologise unreservedly to BrewDog and to the British Institute of Innkeeping for this error of judgement and we will be contacting both organisations imminently to express our regret for this unfortunate incident.”
I've got more to say about the increasingly shameless bullying and anticompetitive tactics employed by some (but not all) big brewers, but this one really takes the biscuit. Diageo, having been caught red handed, had no option but to blame it on a rogue element, and we must take them at their word. But does this reveal something deeper about the attitudes of some global brewing corporations?
Brew Dog's facility with social media means that the hashtag, #andthewinnerisnot, was trending globally by early afternoon. Would Diageo have rushed out this grovelling apology before the advent of social media? I'm not sure they would. We may well look back on this as the start of the tables turning in how different types of brands manage their media. We live in a very transparent and interconnected world these days - interesting times, as the Chinese would say...
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/30743480-7311187695883309545?l=petebrown.blogspot.com
More... (http://petebrown.blogspot.com/2012/05/someone-formerly-at-diageo-is-probably.html)
It's the drinks PR omnishambles that makes George Osborne look like a competent chancellor.
Brew Dog have long been known for their spectacular PR stunts, but the storm that broke on Twitter today seemed breathtaking even by their standards.
In this sensational statement (http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/diageo-v-brewdog), Brew Dog claimed that at the Scottish BII Awards last weekend (http://www.bii.org/events/2012/05/06/484), Brew Dog were voted clear winners of the Bar Operator of the Year Award. They knew this because the judges were sitting at their table and told them so. So everyone was surprised when another company's name was read out, with judges saying, 'That's not possible.'
The plot thickened when the 'winners' took the stage and refused to accept the trophy because it had Brew Dog's name engraved on it!
Later, according to Brew Dog, the BII phoned and said this had happened because Diageo, the main sponsors of the award, had threatened BII officials, warning them that any future sponsorships would be cancelled if the award was presented to Brew Dog.
Another stunt?
Well... no. Brew Dog are famous for stunts, but this would be suicide if it were not true. And this was all about the bars - say what you like about the sensationalism of the head honchos, love or hate the brand, but as I've said repeatedly, the bars are about nothing but genuine passion and hard work. Could this really be spin and exaggeration?
No, it couldn't.
I asked Diageo for a statement, and here it is:
“There was a serious misjudgement by Diageo staff at the awards dinner on Sunday evening in relation to the Bar Operator of the Year Award, which does not reflect in anyway Diageo’s corporate values and behaviour.
“We would like to apologise unreservedly to BrewDog and to the British Institute of Innkeeping for this error of judgement and we will be contacting both organisations imminently to express our regret for this unfortunate incident.”
I've got more to say about the increasingly shameless bullying and anticompetitive tactics employed by some (but not all) big brewers, but this one really takes the biscuit. Diageo, having been caught red handed, had no option but to blame it on a rogue element, and we must take them at their word. But does this reveal something deeper about the attitudes of some global brewing corporations?
Brew Dog's facility with social media means that the hashtag, #andthewinnerisnot, was trending globally by early afternoon. Would Diageo have rushed out this grovelling apology before the advent of social media? I'm not sure they would. We may well look back on this as the start of the tables turning in how different types of brands manage their media. We live in a very transparent and interconnected world these days - interesting times, as the Chinese would say...
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/30743480-7311187695883309545?l=petebrown.blogspot.com
More... (http://petebrown.blogspot.com/2012/05/someone-formerly-at-diageo-is-probably.html)