Case Studies
Ocean Blue, A Brand Attack Gone Wrong?
![ocean blue hotel, sahel, egypt, north coast](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Untitled-1-1.jpeg)
As a social media instructor, one of the things that always grab my attention is brand attacks. As it seems, people think attacking a brand on social media is some trend or a road to fame, which means getting more public attention instead of highlighting facts to reach a beneficial conclusion to all parties involved. Analysis and learnings from a brand attack are always a great topic to discuss in any course.
At the end of my former brand attack analysis article “Ayadina – A Brand attack gone wrong,” I wrote the following conclusion:
“A Brand Attack is not a game to play whenever we feel the need to take revenge. It should be based on pure facts without personal opinions and have as many links to resources as possible (Wikipedia style). The only sources we have are a few unconfirmed stories backed up by an angry mob of friends and some fake reviews.”
And, as it turned out recently, another brand attack, #shut_down_ocean_blue, is very similar. A lady is accusing a hotel of having a faulty Jacuzzi, which led to her kids’ Electrocution, then the hotel refused assistance and tried to cover up the story, or so we are led to believe.
On August 25th, a post was published on Facebook titled “Electrocution of 4 kids in Ocean Blue’s Jacuzzi in Marina” and using the hashtag #Shut_Down_Ocean_Blue (IMO a more appropriate hashtag would have been something like #Ocean_Blue_Electrocution or #Marina_Elecrocution), and asking friends to share the post because “the hotel is lying”
I was puzzled; the post starts with a defensive attitude (too defensive, IMO) without explaining the facts.
The first mistake in a brand attack is promoting an opinion “in this case: shutting down Ocean Blue” rather than neutrally stating the facts – this suites the attacking party’s interests alone and should not be how it is played.
Diving more into details, the story itself looked weird, usually in any brand attack, we “the audience” should be clearly given one specific reason for the attack, and the “accuser” should first try to exhaust all traditional means before moving on to social media, So, I went through the hashtag to find more information and found this earlier post with more facts and detailed information.
Going through the comments, I was shocked by this one:
What? Add fake reviews? WHY!!? If you do have a solid case, why the need to resort to such methods? This is one of the problems with brand attacks over social media. It usually revolves around emotional support for a friend and seldom about facts or logic; how could you want to review something you have not experienced first-hand!? It’s a good thing Trip Advisor has a policy against this and removed the review!
On Trip Advisor, the hotel has good reviews, mostly were 4 or 5 stars, with only very few negative ones. I couldn’t find Mr. Mostafa Elwany’s thinking, though! (As he had promised in the previous comment).
Going through the timeline of events to study the case in detail and organize the events chronologically to get a clear view. (PDF for a timeline of events here), I started to realize from my perspective a few puzzling and illogical issues.
“A bit too fast” Media response!?
Allegedly the incident happened at 6:00 pm on August 19th, yet the first mention by the media was at 7:14 pm the same day. Only about 1hr later!? Shouldn’t the victim have been more concerned with complaining to hotel management, filing a report with the police, or going to the hospital to check the health status of the “electrocuted” kids? when and how did the news hear about this? It couldn’t have been a priority or even on their mind that fast unless it was pre-planned?
10min Electrocution?
Seriously? Well, I’m not an electrician, but from what I understand and after checking a few videos over YouTube (including Myth Busters throwing electrical appliances into Jacuzzis), No one can withstand severe Electrocution for that long, especially kids.
This is not a 12v DC battery. This is a 220v AC Jacuzzi motor, so it’s either you’re dead in less than 2sec, or there is nothing at all… it’s not a Hollywood special effects movie!
And this is not my opinion alone; several other fans share my opinion.
Let’s get the kids on TV
Riham Sa3eed – Sabaya Al Kheir? Really? Involve the kids into this and display them to gain affection for your case?
It doesn’t look like a brand attack. Does this look more like a planned PR attack?
More news = more traffic
The media needs to make up their mind. Is it “they closed the hotel” or “they didn’t close the hotel”?
Crisis, PR Stunt, or Organized Brand Attack?
Did it need a Social Media brand attack? If a story is true, then this is a pretty straightforward case! Just go to the hospital, get an official document documenting the injuries, report to the authorities (Police and Ministry of Tourism), and to Consumer Protection Authority, case closed! IMO I would have also spoken with the manager and owner first – why all the media fuss and noise?
Hashtags
If you need to use hashtags, then either build on an already well-established hashtag with a solid fan-base and content, this has a chance to gain traction and go viral, or another option would be to create a generic hashtag that has an opportunity to trend with a large audience, such as #FAIL, #MARINA, #NORTHCOAST, #DISASTER… etc. but neither is the case here.
Media!?
Traditional media doesn’t have the same impact as social media nowadays, as we can see from the charts below showing the effects of Facebook versus other media types.
Usually, reporters would investigate, uncover the truth, reach a conclusion, and then publish their articles in the good old days. But now it seems that most news media outlets run after content, just any content that will sell.”
An accused is considered innocent until proven otherwise) – yet it seems that news today is manipulated and driven by favors, publishing biased stories.
What happened over the media resembles a “Witch hunt,” and they didn’t reach out to the other party to get a different perspective… sharing opinions rather than providing news is misleading!
The usual suspects
Following the media trend, and fueled by a mob of friends who blindly make assumptions based on loyalties and ignore the solid facts and official investigations, we find:
1) the “conspiracy theorists”… the movie-style stereotype of a wealthy businessman working with corrupt authorities, this businessman doesn’t care about maintenance or quality of service…
2) the “know it all” suddenly everyone is an Electricity, Grounding, and Jacuzzi installations expert!, all have been through the “terrible” and “costly” services of Ocean Blue!
It’s a shame how easily emotions, rumors, and headlines drive people, and no one bothers to read or follow logic anymore.
There is no such thing as bad publicity.
The chart below shows the increase in fans before, during, and after the incident. We can see a rise in fans (due to the attack) and a return to the average trend afterward.
It seems that it is business as usual for the hotel, and impact, if any, would be gaining a 10% increase in fans.
Sentiment
Driven by supporters, the negative sentiment did rise, but only for a brief period and not to the extent that would impact the business.
Most people had a neutral attitude awaiting official confirmation and facts from either side.
Another note is that usually, people who have something negative to say are the ones who post and comment. Optimistic fans seldom post or comment unless provoked, so I would assume the actual percentage is less than half (10~15%) for the negative sentiment of overall mentions.
HHotel’sresponse
Professionally, during any crisis over social media, the best practice is to do the following:
- Monitor First
- Have a Plan
- Find out who is responsible?
- Is this crisis or not?
- Take appropriate action
- Let it breathe
- Go to source
- DDon’tfight back
- Go back and review.
In this case, the hotel followed these steps. They took the time to monitor, investigate, analyze then respond. The first official response by the hotel was five days later, which in my opinion, is be a bit too late. But these steps should be fast.
Conclusion
A Brand Attack is not a game to play whenever we want to take revenge. it should be based on pure facts without any personal opinions and have as many links to facts and resources as possible (Wikipedia style) – the only sources we have are a story (without any physical or official proof), a few unconfirmed reports from friends backed up by an angry mob of more friends and some fake reviews.
And unless it is based on facts and affects a large audience segment. It’s just a waste of effort and time, a bubble that will give away to the following significant news that comes around.
The lifetime of this attack was less than two weeks; as we can see from the chart above, emotional brand attacks don’t work anymore; the audience is more thoughtful now. You are claiming those solid facts do not back them up! People outside your circle of friends and supporters will eventually see the past.
The whole concept of attacking a brand is wrong. It should be a platform for giving fans and users direct raw and solid feedback to grow into a healthy win-win partnership between businesses, services, management, and their fans. Fans can become the management’s eyes and ears, leading to a better quality of service.
Last Words
Brands: Please monitor your mentions and keywords; there are many free tools and methods such as Hootsuite and Google Alerts to monitor your brand online. It looks so bad when you realize people are talking about you 3 or 4 days later.
“rand Attackers” If you do not have facts and proof, then please don’t play the emotional card… it will work only for a short period, then fire back on you… don’t mislead or drive people to a conclusion that suits you best. Look at the bigger picture and mutual benefit for all.
If you want public support and interest, then defend and promote public (not personal) interest. If people see (or feel) that you have an individual plan, then the only support you will get is close friends, and without facts to support your cause, the “rand attack”will never grow beyond that small circle.
Case Studies
ElCoach Releases 2020 Numbers- DB Exclusive
![ElCoach](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ElCoach.png)
Today, ElCoach, MENA’s premier on-demand fitness, and nutrition app released its Year in Review 2020 and we are seriously impressed.
With demand on Fitness apps growing by 46% during COVID-19’s first wave, it looks like this team worked harder to offer Arabs a chance to be slimmer and healthier.
Assem Emam, CEO & Co-Founder of ElCoach.Inc says “(we) worked like a beehive to grow our business in this tough time.”
He adds “(aiming to) help people of the MENA region find new and creative ways to stay fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
Work paid off for Users and ElCoach
As the “best-in-class workouts engine in the MENA region”, ElCoach adapts users’ next workouts to push them faster & smarter towards achieving their goals.
Since it is a community-based model, the ElCoach community has collectively performed 2,843,388 workouts during 2020 to lose weight, gain muscle, or increase their fitness level.
No Couch but more Coach
The app also pushed users to turn their locked-down living spaces into gyms with the use of virtual fitness with videos.
As demand for “at home workout programs” with 8 times the size of demand for gym-based workouts. 90% of the demand was targeted towards “Weight Loss”.
Forget Baking, how about 150 K of Healthy Meals?
With ElCoach focusing on nutrition as part of a healthy lifestyle, their year-in-review shows users being less interested in stressing about calories and BMI.
Instead, users were more about nutritional factors like food macros and environment-friendly ingredients.
The app now boasts a roster of delicious vegetarian/vegan meals which empowered the ElCoach community to cook 157,369 healthy meals and eventually burning 165,864,300 calories collectively.
And with the economy suffering in 2020, 69% of ElCoach users opted for “pocket-friendly meals”.
Sweaty Steps for the Win
In November of 2020, ElCoach introduced a progress tracking & step counting feature to aid users in setting goals and measuring the progress of their steps, workouts, calories, and water consumption all in one place.
So, ElCoach community collectively walked 23,240,147 steps, and consumed 2,171,493 cups of water.
The Icing on the Healthy Cake
My most inspiring number, reading this report, was the fact that 88% of ElCoach’s premium subscribers reporting “noticeable change in their body shapes & fitness levels after trying ElCoach for the first few weeks”
It seems the app’s focus on offering a truly local and inclusive perspective on fitness gave the users a push to truly maintain a healthy yet very attainable lifestyle.
Assem wraps it eloquently, saying “It fuels our energy to know that our product resonates with customers and is fueling them to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives.”
Case Studies
Case Study: La Poire Wins Socially Distanced Ramadan
![Case Study: La Poire Wins Socially Distanced Ramadan](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/La-Poire-1.jpg)
Tarek Nour Communications (TNC) released a short and sweet case study on their Ramadan 2020 Campaign for La Poire, and we believe it is marketing gold.
In the two-minute case study published on Youtube, TNC demonstrated the change in Egyptians’ lifestyle this Ramadan for almost everything due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but, for a famous 45-year-old patisserie brand in a country fascinated by Ramadan desserts and is keen on sharing them in close-knit family gatherings even during the pandemic.
In a COVID-19 weary era, selling Ramadan desserts posed a severe challenge. Only family gatherings were limited, and a lockdown was killing the vibe. But we can always rely on TV to remain a Ramadan Fixture.
TNC resorted to Nostalgia mixed with humor in a series of social posts with little to no media spending to remind Egyptians of timeless TV series dubbed in catchy fun conversations about La Poire’s Ramadan Desserts.
Viewers were laughing, and more importantly, they were engaged.
The concise videos became an instant viral hit on Social Media, with views totaling 5.1 Million. Users were commenting, sharing, tick-tocking it, and just laughing at a time of uncertainty and face masks.
According to TNC, La Poire, a proper household name of everything sweet in Egypt, increased its sales by 50% nationwide. The campaign further established the brand’s place as Egypt’s dessert sweetheart.
Why is this marketing gold?
1. Little to No Media Spend
TNC didn’t need to spend money on buying ad slots or employ digital advertising. It didn’t interrupt every Youtube video, but the content proved to catch the attention of customers.
2. Celebrities without the big paycheck
Every Ramadan, it became customary to see the odd post about how much each celebrity gets paid for a Ramadan campaign. This time the production, while featuring stars like Mahmoud Abd El Aziz (RIP) and Raghda, didn’t necessarily need the big paycheck. They just recycled some of Egypt’s all-time favorite Ramadan TV shows from the 1980s and 1990s.
3. Nostalgia doesn’t have to be sad
Contrary to several other campaigns, this one proved to be nostalgic about times long gone doesn’t mean one should be sad or remorseful. Instead, remembering the good old days can still happen with a big grin on your face.
4. UGC is the future
We don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like when brands “talk” to you, it stops being fun and becomes more like a lecture about how cool they are. Enter User Generated Content, which prompts each one of us to feel like they are part of an immense universal feeling that they MUST interact with.
It is fun for the user and becomes free traffic for the brand. In essence, we all become brand ambassadors for the brand without the hefty influencer price-tag and with much bigger reach than anyone.
5. We all need to learn
TNC publishing a short case study is the right step in demonstrating to budding marketers and creatives, and releasing case studies is each creative’s way of teaching others. The community becomes more knowledgeable, more creative, and, more importantly, more determined to produce, learn, and educate others.
Got a case study you want to share? Show us! [email protected]
Case Studies
10 tips for managing a successful cause on Facebook
![10 tips for managing a successful cause on Facebook](https://adigitalboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/facebook-groups-by-nermeen-abo-salem-for-digital-boom-1.png)
Witnessing the suffering of Egyptian single mothers, I started a Facebook group in 2016 in an attempt to shed light on the challenges that put shackles on millions of women in the country.
In just a few days, I started getting thousands of requests from women to join the group. Women who wanted to share their stories in a safe environment, seek advice and get support.
The group grew from few friends to 2,000 in the first month, reaching over 42,000 in two years. Our voices were finally heard. In the first months, I started receiving interview requests from the media. The first was from BBC Arabic.
See Also: Useful Tips To Grow Your Facebook Group
The group snowballed into a movement attracting parliamnent members, women rights groups, lawyers and thousands of volunteers across many professions, all contributing to support the cause.
They say compassion will always alleviate suffering. We solved hundreds of problems. We found women jobs, returned kidnapped children to their moms, paid their debts, covered their medical and educational expenses, among others. Above all, we managed to influence the policy agenda.
Managing a group that advocates for a cause on facebook is no easy task. It requires a lot of effort, passion and commitment.
Here are my two cents on effective advocacy using Facebook groups.
1- Create a safe environment
A safe group is where people won’t feel abused, mistreated, bullied, offended or pressured in any way.
As group Admin, it’s your responsibility to create a safe environment for your group members. Regularly checking profiles, filtering group members, following up on comments, ensuring compliance with group rules should be a daily practice.
2- Build your brand
To get the buy-in of people and attract more members, you need to build a unique brand. Let your group develop a reputation for being genuine, supportive and effective. You need to practice what you preach and rise up to the responsibility.
Always remember that actions speak much louder than words. You should always communicate your group’s efforts and impact on members’ lives.
3- Have a clear mission
You need to describe your cause in a clear mission statement. Say what the group is all about, its objectives and what do you intend or aspire to achieve. This will help you build more credibility and fulfill your mission more effectively.
It’s important to keep reminding your group community of your mission to set the tone and remind them of the bigger goal you’re trying to achieve.
4- Set group rules
Develop a set of rules that serve your cause to maintain a healthy and safe environment for your group members. Rules should promote kindness, courteousness and respect for everyone’s privacy. Hate speech and bullying should be firmly dealt with.
Cause related groups should also refrain from accepting promotional, irrelevant links or posts.
5- Be consistent
You will come across several situations where you will need to make decisions pertinent to members attitudes and directions. You must always be consistent to demonstrate confidence, fairness, and show that you have a clear set of rules in place.
6- Don’t get dragged
People will drag you into irrelevant topics and will want to get you out of your way. Avoid getting into politics, religion, personal values and beliefs. Be clear, firm and and outspoken about it. Make no exceptions. A rule is a rule. It applies to the group admins, moderators and members. Rules are meant to organize work in the group, protect members, create a safe environment and help achieve the group’s objectives.
7- FAQs
List answers for frequently asked questions, and other important topics related to the group. The same questions will be asked quite often as new members join in. Don’t waste your time writing the same answers over and over again, it’s better to invest your time in extra group support activities.
8- Post wisely
Don’t write too many or too little posts. People will lose interest if you write too much and if you fail to communicate regularly. There is no magic number for how many posts you should write but one to two posts per day should be enough to keep the group engaged.
9- Communicate impact
A cause group is all about support and impact. Show members what problems have been solved through the group community. Communicate all key activities that promote your cause and highlight any achievements. This will bring hope to your group members, build credibility and attract more supporters.
10- Stay organized
Create files for important data, activities and achievements, among others. Delegate tasks to passionate volunteers after carefully selecting them. A bad admin or moderator may ruin the group and jeopardize its credibility. Keep monitoring progress, evaluating and improving. This will help you stay on track and move on to the next advocacy goal.
If you have other ideas or tips for managing causes on Facebook, please share them in the comments section. I look forward to hearing from you!
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