CONFESSIONS OF AN ARTSY CROISSANT

Social media in Kenya has been abuzz with everyone tweeting and face booking their views about the Art Caffe incident, where a Kenyan was allegedly the victim of racist slurs when he tried to order a large number of croissants. After his sister posted about it on face book, keyboard hungry Kenyans went wild displaying their outrage while others saw the funny side of things. Some have said that they will never visit the establishment again while others say that the whole incident has been blown out of proportion and they will continue to be regulars. Now, what should the brand say?

If I were Art Caffe, I would make good of a bad situation, think out of the croissant box and take full advantage of the free publicity. No other restaurant in Kenya has received so much attention in recent time. Art Caffe is on everyone's mind. Heck, my subconscious reckons that they just might serve the best croissants in town and I am tempted to try - maybe in the company of a Caucasian friend just to be safe (Oops couldn't resist that he he he)

Art Caffe should jump onto social media and instead of just giving us words which could be written by any kamba copywriter - talk to us. Its that simple. Show us the human side of Art Caffe. Maybe even do viral videos of the person accused of making the mistake, in a croissant costume singing I am sorry. Trace the contacts of the people on social media who were angered and delivery free croissants with a sorry note. Open a you tube channel and reward people for letting out their sentiments via video. Get customers who support you to change their profile pictures to an "I love Art Caffe" logo. Come on guys. Think! Think! Think! How can you interact with disgruntled Kenyans rather than talking at them via radio station interviews or press statements?

Art Caffe needs to come down to our level and just be human. It has been said that human nature dictates that people have a hard time genuinely connecting with, being close to, or really trusting other humans who (pretend to) have no weaknesses, flaws, or mistakes. Lets make peace "creatively" and move on.

Check out these examples of how some brands have made the best of a bad situation.

Domino’s Pizza Turnaround

Domino’s Pizza Turnaround campaign, started in 2009 after employees posted a negative YouTube video. In July 2011, the brand continued their transparent approach with a month-long promotional campaign in New York’s Times Square, live-streaming (good and bad) customer feedback onto the digital hoarding.

FedEx: Absolutely, Positively, Unacceptable

In December 2011, a video of a FedEx deliveryman throwing a customer’s monitor over their fence on YouTube received over 3,000,000 views within 48 hours. Rather than ignoring the scandal FedEx immediately responded in kind. In a blog post entitled ‘Absolutely, Positively, Unacceptable’ and accompanying video of their own, Fedex apologize and explain that the offending video is now being used within the company to show employees what not to do.

Lynx video apology after risqué ad ban

Unilever’s UK body spray brand Lynx (Axe in the rest of the world) was forced to remove a series of risqué online ads following a number of complaints. In response, the brand released a follow-up video with Lucy Pinder, the model in the original series, glumly handing back the props used.

To borrow a term I saw on the net. Sometimes its not about being awesome, its about being flawsome.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

(Headline kindly donated by Hellen Keli)