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Mission
Create a social media plan for Popchips within the first 72 hours of the racist ad crisis.

Social Media Issues and Challenges: Background

In the era of Web 2.0, social media consumption has become part of the new normal, displacing mass media as the cultural standard for receiving information. Social media platforms are where viral cultures live; where consumers become producers; where everyone is a citizen journalist; and where shared experiences are the new black. The shift from a closed medium-form of communication to an open way of communication provided a range of opportunities, as well as threatening risks for brands. As public relations professionals, we must strategically and theoretically educate ourselves on the use of social media as both a monitoring tool and a participatory device, but also be weary of the unique issues and challenges that it creates. Social media is a beautiful place for brands to harness online communities, both new and already-established, and create common spaces where people find entertainment, share ties, connect and truly immerse themselves in brand content. The array of different networking platforms provides multiple touch points for a brand and allows for limitless expansion and experimentation. Using different channels to communicate different elements of a brand further allows brands to build non-linear narratives and, in turn, create a bigger brand world. The practice of public relations dramatically changed as a result of the shift from traditional media to social media. Some of the clearest examples are the advent of more interactive call-to-action campaigns and relationship-building strategies. However, the same identities (i.e. a more proactive audience, a more communally influenced public) that make social media a heavenly virtue can just as well make social media a nightmare. Thus, there are many elements to consider when dealing with social media as both a monitoring tool and a participatory device, including: its borderless domain, its power to spread information and rumors at an uncontrollable rate, and the inexact science of using it to monitor trends and success. Social media created a borderless world in which interaction moved from an appointment-based model to an engagement-based prototype. The idea that people can interact with a brand whenever and wherever they want revolutionized the way brands develop relationships with their target audiences. Brands can no longer take an authoritative, managerial role and isolate consumers. There exists an unwritten expectation that brands must provide ways for fans to get involved. Ironically,

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brands struggle to relinquish control and move beyond the comfort zone of tight, passive marketing practices. The issue is that brands lost control a long time ago. To solve the problem, brands need to look at involvement, conversation and memes as brand affinity, not theft, and reward it, not ignore it. While a borderless domain provides the opportunity to spread a message beyond immediate proximity and easily build on a participatory culture, the problem is that a participatory culture lacks diversity. Literacy skills and access to technologies are unevenly distributed across populations making the online community sample rather narrow. For example, You Tube amateur curators and viewers still primarily represent the white and middle-class.i With minorities under-represented in social media, it is difficult to generalize conversations or feedback from the online community sample. Another unfortunate peril of social media is that it is a forum where information spreads unpredictably and uncontrollably. A catch-22 paradigm in social media forces brands to relinquish control and give fans content to discuss and spread within their own virtual communities for that brand to remain relevant. However, giving power to the consumer on social media opens up a window for which they can make critical comments about companies whenever they feel disappointed, insulted or aggravated. Uncontrollable spreadability is a sensitive subject and created a challenge for brands in monitoring virally voiced expressions and knowing when to react or how to respond. Social media as a trend-monitoring tool is another unique challenge to public relations. Monitoring trends via social media, otherwise known as netnography is a qualitative, computer-mediated form of communication that helps brands understand target audiences and their underlying social motivations. Netnography provides the opportunity to listen and observe shifts in the cultural economy. Paying attention to what people are saying is no easy task. Fragmented niche groups exist within virtual communities. Cultural norms constantly change. Monitoring whats cool and hunting for insiders and influencers takes time and devotion. In the end, there is no exact science in justifying if the strategy directly correlates to business ROI. For example, Retweets and Facebook Likes bring awareness to a company, but researchers find it difficult to determine whether these quantifiable numbers directly result in an increase in sales. The practice of using social media to monitor brand conversation and build a participatory brand culture presents opportunities. When used appropriately, social media enhances a brands social ties with its target audiences and advance bottomline goals, but the rewards must carefully meet with acknowledgement of all the risks.

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Crisis Containment Plan Components

Context
For the purpose of this assignment, our crisis management plan will come in as supplementary strategic support to Popchips initial attempt at crisis management. Our team will essentially mentor Popchips and act as a resource to the company for the most appropriate and sensitive ways to manage this crisis within the first 72 hours of the video going live. The one major distinction to note in our crisis management plan versus the one actually deployed by Popchips is that we will advise Popchips to post a video apology. At the advent of the crisis, Popchips only deployed a written apology. Our crisis containment plan will further explain our rationale behind the decision, and our strategies and tactics will justify its reliability. All strategies and tactics listed in the crisis containment plan are our groups original work.

Campaign Objectives Communication Objectives

Restore and regain stature of Popchips positive image one that was presently enjoyed before this reputational risk - by diverting 50 percent of negative attention regarding the crisis to more positive awareness of Popchips via Twitter and influential lifestyle blogs by the end of the 72-hour crisis management campaign. Ensure the Popchips reputation has not been tarnished long-term - affecting the businesss profitability and bottom-line business goals - by seeking to increase positive opinion about the crisis issue and Popchips crisis management style amongst opinion-leader Tweeters by 10 percent proceeding the campaign.

Business Objective

Maintain the healthy sales growth of Popchips products o Since its inception in the competitive snack market, Popchips has grown at a vertiginous 70 percent each year. Sales are 2012 conservatively estimated to reach $93.7 million. The estimate will reliably indicate the impact of this crisis on bottom-line business goals.ii

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List of Key Stakeholders

Indian community, specifically those active on Twitter o These stakeholders felt most outraged by Ashton Kutchers donning of a brown-face and stereotypical accent. o It is important to clear the controversy with these stakeholders to deflect any potential stereotype of Popchips promoting racism. Influential lifestyle, gossip and entertainment bloggers o Ashton Kutchers role in the Bollywood-parody made for buzzworthy controversy amongst lifestyle, gossip and entertainment bloggers. o It is important for Popchips to remain open and transparent with these stakeholders so they can deliver a fair and balanced message to their readers. Popchips loyal snackers o These stakeholders represent the heart-and-soul of the brand, advocating its products and reason for the brands success over the years. o It is important to ensure the understanding and genuine acceptance of Popchips apology and its strategy behind the video ad for loyal snackers to forgive and forget. Verlinvest and Popchips celebrity investors David Ortiz and Sean Combs o It is important to reaffirm to our top investors that we view them as a driving force in the success of the Popchips business by focusing on complete transparency and openness to crisis management suggestions. o It will be especially important to communicate with Popchips newest investor, Verlinvest, a Belgian-based small equity firm that is most notably credited with managing the family wealth created by Interbrew (InBev). The firm recently bought TSG Consumer Partners stake in Popchips - one of Verlinvests largest deals everiii . o The implications of any companys crisis impacts celebrity investors tremendously, because of the risk of damaging their personal reputations and images. To avoid compromising the presently mutually beneficial relationships, it will be crucial to keep Popchips celebrity endorser-investors in loop of the crisis to avoid losing their trust or confidence in the brand.

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Mediums for Notifying Stakeholders

1. Social Media Platforms Popchips official social media platforms (Twitter [@popchips], Facebook and YouTube) will be the major forums for which the brand will communicate with crisis stakeholders and succeed in meeting the campaigns objectives o This will be the most appropriate format of communication seeing as that social media platforms, most notably, Twitter, were the hot spots for public outcry regarding the ads perceived racist nature. Social media will deliver all crisis management campaign strategies and tactics or, if not, Popchips official social media platforms will mention the strategies and tactics to increase spreadability of management efforts and help the brand achieve campaign objectives. 2. Popchips official blog Any Facebook posts and tweets communicated via Popchips link to the official Popchips blog (www.popchips.com/blog). During this 72-hour time frame, the Popchips will dedicate its blog solely to communicating with audiences about the crisis. o When clicking through to the blog, audiences will see the video apology from CEO Keith Belling first. o Other crisis management strategies and tactics deployed will be communicated to the blogs audience after scrolling past Bellings apology. 3. E-mail In addition to utilizing social media platforms to communicate with stakeholders, it will be important to contact the companys top investors and loyal snackers via e-mail to explain the crisis plan, ensure their continued support and maintain a positive relationship with them. o Communicating openly and transparently with the investors in a personal manner will remain important to validate to investors that Popchips values their presence and powerful role in the company. o Popchips offers the option for snackers to sign up to receive enewsletters and stay on top of whats popping with Popchips. Those that previously subscribed to this e-mail list will receive updates regarding responses to the crisis. 4. Telephone Hotline A telephone hotline will employ brand representatives to remain on-call 24 hours/day during this 72-hour crisis management campaign as a supplement

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to the e-mail to investors. Investors can call the hotline and get answers to any other questions or concerns not previously addressed in the e-mail.

Crisis Communication Team

Our Group + Alison Brod PR o Our group and the Alison Brod PR teams crisis specialists will work together in providing strategic PR consultancy, including: Assisting in media training for the campaigns spokesperson Developing clear, consistent holding statements Stakeholder-relations handling The Alison Brod PR team will also be responsible for assigning a crisis specialist to surveillance online communication amongst Popchips key stakeholders.

Media Spokesperson(s)

Popchips CEO Keith Belling will act as the media spokesperson and the face of the crisis campaign o Popchips is a privately owned company, and maintains more personal relationships with its target audiences in comparison to a public corporation. Popchips credits its customers with fueling the brands astonishing success. It makes sense to capitalize on building and maintaining authentic relationships with Popchips stakeholders in the advent of a crisis and avoid any disconnection or impersonal interactions during the crisis clean up. o Belling will be the most appropriate media spokesperson in ensuring stakeholders that the Popchips brand is not an autonomous machine, but made of real people and a CEO who humbles himself in presenting a public apology. o Using Belling will additionally: Foster a sense of connection and trust Humanize the company Creative a cohesive, consistent voice for the campaign Back-ups to the designated spokesperson will also be identified to fill the position in the event that the primary spokesperson, CEO Keith Belling is unavailable. In this case, Brian Pope, Communication Chief Officer of Popchips, and Pat Turpin, the co-founder and president the designated backup spokespersons.

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Anticipated Questions Worksheet for Media Spokesperson(s)

As part of the crisis management plan, our group and Alison Brod PR presented an Anticipated Questions Worksheet for Belling and Pope to familiarize themselves with immediately. The following questions will be included in the worksheet: o When were you first notified of backlash and adverse complaints to the ad? o What are you doing to make sure the situation is under control? o What is Popchips doing in response to complaints specifically stemming from the Indian community? o How was such a crisis not anticipated? o What was the creative motivation behind this ad? Did you think the approach of imitating people in different races was funny? o When did your response to the crisis situation begin? o Do you think those involved (i.e. Ashton Kutcher) handled the situation appropriately and respectfully? o Do you think people are overreacting? o What do you think is social medias role in this crisis? Do you think it has worsened your companys situation? o What would you like to say to those who were offended by the ad? o Do you believe the ad was a bad judgment call or do you stand by it? o Is this ad still up? If so, is it public or private? What is the rationale behind this? o How does this affect Popchips moving forward? o What lessons were learned? New questions will be added and anticipated for in the event that the crisis evolves

List of Emergency Personnel

There is no physical emergency in this crisis, so Popchips management and the Allison Brod PR team will suffice as the emergency personnel.

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List of Key Media

Key media in the case of this crisis management plan will include all the influential publications that reported on the crisis, and essentially contributed to the spread of the controversy. The following publications will remain aware of Popchips crisis management efforts: LA Times Forbes Fast Company Yahoo! News NY Post ABC CBS TMZ MTV News Perez Hilton People Magazine

Key Issues to Solve

Should we pull or edit the commercial? Ashton Kutchers donning of a brown-face and stereotypical accent in acting out the Raj character created the perception of the commercial as racist. Therefore, the most important decision to make before carrying out the social media crisis management plan is to rationalize whether or not to pull the video or edit out content with the Raj character. The 72-hour time frame limits the time for us to conduct comprehensive primary research, like focus groups or surveys. However, we did carry out limited secondary research by looking into the similar consumer branding racist cases to get a better idea about the most strategically sound move. First, we studied the European Commissions 2012 TV commercial, called Growing Together. The video ad intended to promote the expansion of the European Union. However, the European Union was forced to recall the ad amidst allegations that the commercial was racist. In the commercial, three men of different ethnic backgrounds confront the commercials heroine, a white Caucasian female dressed in a symbolic yellow jumpsuit. The woman clones herself into 11 copies (symbolic of the eleven stars in the EU flag), thus giving herself the competitive edge of outnumbering her would-be assailants. The commercial closes with the heroine delivering the message: The more we are, the stronger we are together. The rally for camaraderie and the message that a serene Europe can subdue her foreign foes was not received well. Instead, viewers saw an ad that shows a white female being

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threatened by foreign men with weapons. Critics also deemed it of dubious taste and judgment.iv Others flocked to social media, accusing the ad of being racist, sexist and imperialistic. Twitter account SydneySteve85 posted a message under the ad saying: No wonder the Euro and the EU are collapsing. Instead of fixing the financial crisis they're spending money on racist propaganda videos.v EU resisted pulling down the commercial at first, claiming that the commercial demonstrated the mutual respect between different countries and it by no means intended to be racist. They stood their ground further adding that the commercial targeted young adults who should understand the martial culture and therefore accept the commercial.vi The tough attitude and arrogant response ultimately aroused further public dissatisfaction, and only made the situation worse and a more contagious viral crisis. It was not until pressure from the public and shareholders reached its peak that EU finally decide to pull down the commercial, at which point the reputational damage had been done. We also studied Volkswagens 2013 Get Happy Super Bowl commercial ad. The ad played on Jamaican stereotypes, specifically its peoples pronounced accent and generally bubbly personality. Volkswagen received mixed reactions to the commercial, with some people calling it racist while others found it entertaining. Unlike EUs commercial crisis, VW did not pull or edit the commercial, defending its decision by noting that it tested the ad among consumers, 100 of which were Jamaicans, and received no negative feedback. In the hours since the issue blew up, VW said it continued to received plenty of compliments, which ultimately validated its decision to keep the ad public. The company continues to capitalize on the Get Happy theme, offering a clip of Jamaica's Reggae sensation, Jimmy Cliff singing "C'mon, get happy" on the official VW website. EUs and VWs decisions and the implications of those decisions will assist our group in making our final statement on whether or not to pull the Popchips ad. Should we apologize and how much responsibility should we take? Public relations teaches that sincere and truthful apologies always win over audiences in the case of corporations wrong-doing. However, legal counsel will counter that argument in saying corporate apologies, if worded incorrectly, might create poor legal implications and liabilities. Corporate attorneys routinely recommend against immediate apologies in crisis situations to avoid possible

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lawsuits. It becomes increasingly important to find a balance between the two in creating a crisis management plan for Popchips. To do this, we looked at crisis cases where the phrasing of apologies and wording helped or further hurt companies. First, we looked at Acuras seemingly racist casting call for its 2012 Super Bowl commercial. It acted as a great case-study example demonstrating an apology gone rogue. Acura and its ad agency wrote in its casting document that they were looking for an African-American actor who was "not too dark." The company apologized to the public soon after saying We apologize to anyone offended by the language on the casting sheet used in the selection of actors for one of our commercials. Audiences were unsatisfied with the apology and its lack of sincerity and emotion. The statement did not indicate Acuras remorse for doing wrong, only that it was sorry if some people might have found it offensive. It was obvious that Acura only intended to issue an apology to avoid possible legal liabilities, but in this case, the apology created an adverse impression on the brands ethics, or lack thereof. A case that exemplifies good communication strategy in a crisis situation is Tim Cooks apology for the release of a faulty new Apple Maps app that did not remotely match its predecessors capabilities.vii Tim began his deep and sincere apology, saying We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better. What really sets his apology apart from others is that he provided a solution to the problem by recommending other applications that would do the job better. The case studies confirm that a corporate crisis apology should balance emotion and responsibility - one that manages to address stakeholders outrage and concern, while understanding the risk that apologies could backfire and increase liability. We conducted additional secondary research, seeking survey results and/or statistics reporting how consumers react to corporate crisis apologies. We found that the nature of the apology was very important. A publication of the American Judges Association revealed, Apologies that accept fault have more impact than apologies that merely express sympathy, but take no responsibility.viii The final question to consider regarding the issue of responsibility and apology is the strength of the issue among Popchips target audience to avoid bringing more attention to the controversy than needed. Over-apologizing can come across as a defense mechanism and may actually attract new unwanted attention to the issue. Monitoring real-time talk online among our key audiences will address the issue.

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The secondary research provided four major takeaways, all of which we will use to counsel Popchips moving forward. These takeaways include: 1) accept full responsibility; 2) apologize directly to those offended by the commercial; 3) refrain from speaking out about any other parties involved and their crisis management actions; and 4) communicate with its audiences about the on-going actions taken to address the problem.

Key Messages
The following key messages were developed to drive the campaigns objectives: 1. We put our snackers first, no matter their race or ethnicity, and embrace all types of shapes, flavors, and colorsix o The message takes a playful approach to emphasizing that Popchips does NOT support racism. o The message will divert negative attention and perceptions about Popchips cultural insensitivity, to more awareness about Popchips management of the crisis and the brands lovable nature. 2. We take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offended o The message will fall in line with our campaign objective: to ensure all steps are taken to avoid affecting bottom-line business goals and sales. o The word full in the context of full responsibility is very important, because we do not play the blame game-form of communication and interaction with influential bloggers and Tweeters. Doing so could potentially extend the life cycle of the crisis and run the risk of alienating the brands user-base, leaving those offended feeling exploited rather than served. 3. We will not let the media drive the agenda and will use the advent of this crisis to improve our brands culture. o Essentially we want to turn what-could-be pain and turn it into future gain. We will extract value from the situation and consider wider strategic issues in getting the crisis under control. We will use this unfortunate occasion to make cultural transformations, build a better crisis control system and create a better flow of communication within the company. Ultimately, we will take this crisis as an opportunity to improve transparency and accountability. 4. Moving forward, we will practice more sensitivity in designing our campaigns as we attempt to represent all demographics and lifestyles.

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We want to communicate (through our campaign strategies and tactics) that we recognize discriminatory stereotyping is taboo and irresponsible in an era where multiculturalism awareness is essential. This crisis campaign will seek to honor criticisms to the ad campaign, as opposed to ignoring them, and turn a threat into an opportunity by creating mutual ties with minority cultures.

Strategies
1. Be cohesive on all social media platforms o When it comes to social media, consistent communication is important. Tools such as TweetDeck, HootSuite and others allow us to post the same message to several different social media platforms at once. However, slightly different content on different networks increases effectiveness since each platform embraces its own culture and language. For example, Twitter is most often used for quick and instant communication, while Facebook allows for more detailed information and provides space to address issues at length. Thus, being cohesive doesnt mean to make the content of every message identical, but instead create cohesive themes. o Agreeing on a unified voice will also remain an important element to the cohesive structure of the campaign. Ashton Kutcher, Allison Brod PR and Zambezi also take part in the crisis, so all parties involved must come to a collective decision on the content and channel of communication before releasing any statements. 2. Communicate, respond and react on a needs basis o After CEO Keith Belling delivers the initial (and official) apology for the crisis, we will monitor conversation and avoid saturating audiences with meaningless or unnecessary conversation. o Quick and real-time updates and responses are essential in developing the correct and effective social media campaign. However, transparency does not mean reacting to every Tweet or simply putting something out there for the sake of responding. A speedy response that isnt well informed can do more damage than good. It is also unwise to release a statement or make reactions without careful consideration, research and collaboration among all crisis team members. Even though it is the goal of the campaign to mediate this crisis as soon as possible, Popchips must make certain all communication and all messages are concise and serve a purpose.

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3. Focus on monitoring the tolerance level of our stakeholders in regards to this crisis o Following strategy #2, gauging the seriousness of the crisis via Twitter and other online conversations will be important. If, for example, Twitter shows conversations about the Popchips ad trending on a national scale, crisis management efforts will grow stronger than if say the crisis seems to have remained neutral. o Netnographic research will provide a systematic way to investigate consumer behavior, attitudes and opinions surrounding the crisis and help create meaning out of the natural interactions that arise between audiences online. 4. Let the Popchips human show, being as visual as possible! o The humanization strategy will involve demonstrating the real person in the Popchips company. In this case, our person is CEO Keith Belling, the social media outreach vehicle. Audiences engage with the brand and participate in healthy two-way conversations about the crisis knowing they are talking to or hearing from a real person. o Popchips customers are human. Popchips employees are human. Popchips fans and followers on the social media are human too. The best strategy is to capitalize on Popchips realness by putting a real, trusting face to the crisis management campaign and injecting the brands personality into its messages. o Using video and visual platforms for communication, as opposed to relying strictly on written word to deliver our message, will serve our purpose best. o It is our hope this minimizes the lifetime of the crisis and makes it old news sooner.

Main Tactics

On-going Tactics Assign a team of social-media monitoring strategists, represented by Popchips, to gather information about the scope of the crisis through social media analysis and mainstream media content analysis. This will include: identifying, tagging, tracking and analyzing the opinion-makers who are influencing conversation about the crisis via Twitter and other online communication platforms. o It is not simply about who is on Twitter or tracking the gross number of Twitter followers Tweeting and Re-tweeting about the crisis.

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Instead, we must look for people who drive and will drive the controversial conversation - the people that count. Due to overwhelming size of the Web, we only want to respond to people who will affect the Popchips bottom line.

Radian6.com will analyze noteworthy metrics, such as: o Date of Tweets/ReTweets/posts o Number of Tweets/ReTweets/posts/comments o Number of online media articles and blogs mentioning the ad o Relevance of Web content o Peoples influence, credibility and number of followers on Twitter The number and importance of the people discussing the crisis, and whether or not the crisis is increasingly generating further conversation will determine crisis management success. 1-hour Mark Hold a mandatory meeting with Popchips C-suites and the Allison Brod PR team to communicate our crisis management plan in its entirety, and ensure that all those involved stay on the same page. Draft an e-mail to send to investors and Popchips loyal snackers that provides a detailed account of the crisis and that most importantly, provides a sense of assurance by outlining our solutions to the crisis. Prepare Belling for the video he will be delivering at the 3-hour mark. o Preparation will be ideal to create a video that appears authentic, while not too commercialized. 3-hour Mark Video Belling delivering the official video apology o The video apology will appear on the front page of the official Popchips blog (www.popchips.com/blog). Rationale for using the official Blog: Posting on the blog will avoid the risk of over-communicating the message and saturating audiences who may be unfamiliar with the crisis. If, for example, someone previously unaware of the crisis chooses to go onto www.popchips.com to buy product or learn about the different Popchips flavors and then sees the video apology, he or she now knows about a crisis of which he or she was previously unaware.

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Rationale for removing the video: We understand that with todays Web 2.0 technology capabilities, audiences will find ways to see the ad even if Popchips takes the ad off its website. However, the negatives outweigh the positives in keeping the ad video up. 1. We decided that the World Wide Lovers campaign will remain just as effective without the Raj character, so removing him from the campaign and eliminating the original video from any Popchips online platform will be the most appropriate and respectful action. 2. Removing the ad will not detrimentally strike finances, seeing as that the additional elements of the World Wide Lovers campaign (i.e. billboards, commercials, print ads, etc.) have yet to go to print or go live. Had Popchips released the full World Wide Lovers campaign advertising and marketing pieces already, the decision would create a more costly move. In the apology, Belling will: 1. Address many of the questions in the Anticipated Questions Worksheet. 2. Communicate the apology via Popchips social media platforms for the next 72 hours ONLY. The campaign aims to mediate the crisis on social media within 72 hours. It makes sense to create a 72-hour time frame to communicate and spread the apology. The capability to view the video will still remain preceding that period, but communication about the apology will not be tweeted or posted. 3. Communicate that moving forward the controversial Raj character will be removed from further advertising and marketing. Communicating this will illustrate Popchips sensitivity to the concerns. It will also demonstrate that Popchips came to a compromise between business profit and acting morally responsible.

12-hour Mark Send e-mail to loyal snackers investors, closing the e-mail with instructions on how to contact the Popchips hotline number with any further questions or concerns. 24-hour Mark

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The majority of our tactics will be delivered during this 24-hour mark, because this is when the news outlets and media will be reporting on the crisis. Thus, it will be optimal timing to deploy our tactics in coordination with anything on the medias agenda so that we dont give the media the opportunity to monopolize content regarding the crisis on this day.

Release the video of the official Popchips apology (a.k.a. make it LIVE) via the official Popchips blog. Use Popchips official Twitter account and Facebook page to tweet and post the link to the video apology on the Popchips blog. o Communicating through all of these forums will increase spreadability of Popchips apology. CEO Keith Belling, top Popchips executives and Ashton Kutcher will post apologies on their personal Twitter accounts with links to the video apology on the Popchips blog. o This will fall in line with the strategy to humanize the campaign. Belling begins personally responding to Tweets that the campaigns social media-monitoring strategists reported as receiving a high volume of attention. o This will illustrate Popchips active responsiveness. Belling will reach out to the top three influential figures reporting or blogging about the crisis, namely Anil Dash, Das Racist and Hasan Minhaj. o Belling will speak on behalf of Popchips by first apologizing and explaining Popchips plan moving forward (i.e. the advent of more culturally sensitive marketing material in the future). o Second, Belling will insist that each of these three figures take the opportunity to interview him on the topic of this crisis. These three figures will receive the rights to the video and the ability to post the video on their own blogs. The opportunity to post a video interview with the CEO of a Forbes Most Promising Company will most definitely attract viral attention and provide growth for each figures personal brand. That will act as the incentive for these three figures to bite on this opportunity. For Popchips, this provides the opportunity to use Bellings face and mannerisms to illustrate true remorse. Belling will interact with each of these figures in a way that leaves viewers

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with a feel-good, positive image of Popchips at the conclusion of the interview.

At the end of the 24-hour mark, check up on social media conversations, analyze social media mentions and monitor Popchips online reputation in relation to 24 hours previous. A change in the nature of conversations or a declined number of posts/tweets will reliably indicate the progress of managing the crisis.

48-hour Mark Set up a live-Tweet session on Popchips Twitter account, inviting those offended or hurt by the ad to talk it out with Popchips directly. The liveTweet session will take place between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., Friday, May 4th. o Use the live-Tweet session to market a hashtag(#) that Popchips followers can use to direct questions or concerns about the ad if they think of something after the 12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. time frame. The hashtag will be something simple, yet clever like, #popChipsChat.

Ashton Kutcher posts a video on YouTube personally apologizing for offending any of his fans. He must take a more serious persona in the video, as opposed to his usual playfulness and sarcastic humor. The YouTube video will be shared as a link via Kutchers Twitter page. o We will not counsel Allison Brod PR or Zambezi on how to manage the crisis, however it is important we counsel Ashton Kutchers response because of the fact that consumers now associate his celebrity figure to the Popchips brand. Popchips would not want to lose consumers or suffer long-term reputational damage because of Kutchers failure to respond appropriately to the crisis. Popchips reacts to Ashton Kutchers video apology, voicing their appreciation for his humility and self-responsibility. Popchips may also use this as an opportunity to assure audiences that the relationship between Popchips and Kutcher remains strong and that Kutcher will remain Popchips president of pop. o It is our hope that Popchips loyalty to Kutcher will reflect positively on Popchips and in turn build consumer trust, value and loyalty.

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72-hour Mark At the end of the 72-hour mark, check up on social media conversations, analyze social media mentions and monitor Popchips online reputation in relation to 48 hours previous. A change in the nature of conversations or a declined number of posts/tweets will reliably indicate the progress of managing the crisis.

Evaluation

Evaluate quarterly sales post-crisis and compare them to the previous quarters sales numbers. o If sales numbers are unaffected and continue on the same consistent path of inflation then the crisis did not affect Popchips user-base and the campaign achieved the business objective.

http://henryjenkins.org/2007/05/9_propositions_towards_a_cultu.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/01/24/popchips-the-next1-billion-snack-food-or-just-full-of-hot-air/ iii http://www.mofo.com/files/Uploads/Images/Deal-Sonora-Mills.pdf iv http://world.time.com/2012/03/07/is-a-new-european-union-ad-racistcontroversial-video-campaign-is-pulled/ v http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9126397/EUcampaign-video-is-racist-sexist-and-imperialistic.html vi http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-europeanunions-racist-and-unintentionally-revealing-tv-ad/254100/ vii http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/ viii http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100602121158.htm ix http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/popchips-pulls-ashtonkutcher-ad-over-charges-of-racism/
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