Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka, the drink of choice for many, recently discovered that its online reputation is just as valuable as its consumers’ perceptions offline. Its ad that depicted most of the US Southern States as a part of Mexico, triggered a heated online dialogue that lasted for five months.

To the surprise of Absolut Spirits, it started a backlash of negative responses from consumers online that lasted for five months, even after they had pulled the advert. The ad that appeared in the Mexican Celebrity Lifestyle magazine Quién in April and also on several billboards in and around Mexico generated much controversy especially online.

The Journal: Jeremy Maggs’ Journal of Marketing Breakfasts

Well-known media specialist and TV-presenter Jeremy Maggs regularly hosts insightful Journal of Marketing Breakfasts. These events needed exposure on the social networking sites.

Getting word out there has come a long way since jumping on a soap box and shouting from the town centre. Creating an online buzz and identity for a respected South African media practitioner like Jeremy Maggs was far more exciting. And effective!

Kulula.com Spring Day Sale Case Study

It’s something that can happen to any popular website that receives a lot of traffic – it can crash. But try to explain that to unsatisfied customers… Domestic airline Kulula witnessed this first hand after a Spring Sale promotion caused the Kulula.com website to crash.

saidWot conducted an online reputation audit to determine the damage done on this particular day – 1 September 2009

Mega Brand Forum Audits

Each year, the Sunday Times Top Brands Survey crowns the country’s most successful brands in a number of categories. After the six 2009 Top Brands were announced, saidWot did a few evaluations of its own…

This forum was interesting in terms of the format and the flurry of questions from the inquisitors on the panel to the Sunday Times Top Brand Winners. Whilst most of the questions answered were well covered, an area that wasn’t addressed was the Brands’ online presence with regards to mention distribution value and overall reputation sentiment.

Makro vs Magaliessig

It has come to the Magaliessig community’s attention that Makro has purchased a significant portion of land on Witkoppen Rd in Magaliessig and intends to develop this as another Makro Superstore outlet.

Notification was served on the Public on Wednesday 10th February 2010 and the community has 28 days from that date to register any objections.

Makro presented this to a forum of residents on the 9th Feb and the general reaction was one of complete and unanimous rejection to the proposal.

Those residents who attended the Makro presentation immediately caucused and a meeting was promptly scheduled for Thursday 11th Feb at which an action group was formed to oppose the Makro development.

saidWot monitored conversations online to see reactions by residents and Makro.