Hey, black people. Ad guy here. Can y'all do me a solid and stop perpetuating the social media trope that we somehow gave Popeye's $25million in "free" advertising. That's not exactly accurate and it doesn't reflect the reality of how marketing communications work.
Let's start with the basics: There are three types of media a brand can leverage:
Paid- the shit they bought from someone else
Earned- the shit they get from PR/word if mouth
Owned- the channels they control (see: websites, blogs, youtube channels, and social feeds)
Now, while Popeye's paid media investment here may have been small (because Popeye's is a relatively smaller player in the QSR category), they probably knew they had a loyal following on social media that would get them more earned exposure (called: "impressions") online.
Relying on an earned media/impressions strategy is tricky because you're kinda banking on the people doing legwork for you. This could go either way; really good or really really bad. In this case, they gambled on the quality of their product and the loyalty of their customers.
But, back to that $25million number. The way we quantify the value of a marketing plan is through how many people within the target demo get exposed to the message. It's why Super Bowl ads are expensive. A lot of eyeballs all at the same time comes at a premium.
So when you see a number like $25million in "free" advertising floating around, it's inaccurate for several reasons:
1.) It doesn't reflect impressions based on target
2.) It doesn't take into account consumer sentiment
3.) It doesn't translate to sales.
It's just exposure.
While there's a case to be made about the broad reach of their marketing plan and how they leveraged earned media to push their message. It's not really fair to say they got anything for "free" because earned impressions don't cost money in the first place. You can't buy that.
Now, a more accurate conversation that could/should be had is about how black twitter is influencing how brands interact in the earned media space (which I'm willing to have with clients any day), but to try to quantify the impact is a bad idea and it'll lead to bad results.
I mean, there's a brand manager somewhere right now trying to figure out how he or she can make their product "go viral" with the power of black twitter and it's going to lead to some serious pandering and the opposite of the Popeye's effect as consumers shut them down.
But for now, take it for what it's worth that black folks were the engine behind one of the best PR/earned media plays I've seen in a while and we didn't give anything away. We just showed how we can define a market and influence culture. That's good.
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Dear Black Men Supporting Trump,
I'd like to introduce you to this man, Lee Atwater. Now, you may not know who Lee Atwater is, but he's had a profound impact on your life over the past 50ish years. You see, he's the architect of a thing called the Southern Strategy...
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So, to get these disaffected white Democrats into the fold, Atwater came up with a plan. They would use the ethos of segregationism and white supremacy, but wrap it in "State's Rights" as a way to embrace blatantly anti-Black policies...
I'm gonna tell y'all a story. In 2006, my brother passed away. I grieved for a couple of weeks, and then I walked that shit off. In 2009, out of nowhere, I suddenly lost my ability to drive on the highway. It was weird, but I just couldn't do it. The anxiety was overwhelming...
Over the next few months, I started having issues with my temper, I wasn't sleeping, and I was drinking heavily. It culminated in me snapping on someone at work and my job making me take anger management/therapy. I did not want to do that shit. But, I did like money, so I did...
In the first few sessions of therapy, I was just present but not engaged. Again, my job made me go but that's all I was there for. But, one day, the doctor asked me about my family and how I'd referred to having a brother in the past tense. That led to the breakthrough...
Some of y'all aren't old enough to remember 1992 when the term "Sista Souljah Moment" was coined. But since then, EVERY Democrat running for President has had to have an open clash with one the elements on the left of the party to prove that they'll stand up to the liberals...
In 1992, Bill Clinton's candidacy for President was HEAVILY buoyed by Black voters. Like, people said he was the first "Black" president. He was on Arsenio and everything. And this worried a lot of Southern white voters. Because, back then a Democrat could win in the South...
As a member ofthe DLC and New Democrats, Bill Clinton had to show that he wasn't one of the old New Deal Dems or a Northeastern liberal who would take us back to the era of big government. BUT, he still needed those liberal white voters to win because the GOP had New England...
Folks. Let's not look at the news over the past two days and reflexively tilt to, "JOE BIDEN NEEDS TO EXPAND THE SUPREME COURT!". It doesn't work like that. Elections have consequences and, when you lose, you lose. This was a 50+ year effort and it's not getting undone quickly...
If you feel bad about the results of the court's decisions, the only recourse you have is to organize and vote. The court is basically saying that, if you want these rights codified, they need to be based on laws passed by Congress specifically tailored to the issue at hand...
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At the end of the day, the Titanic Missing Billionaire Submarine story is a perfect distillation of 21st Century capitalism: A small group of very rich people assume a clearly irresponsible risk. It goes predictably wrong. Scores more in public resources are used to save them...
Privatize the "thrill" of "discovery" and offer it to the monied few who have the resources and access to both assume large amounts of risk while simultaneously disavowing said risk when making decisions. Because they assume that, if it does go bad, someone will save them...
Only difference in this story than the usual "titans of business saved by the public good" story is that the CEO here might actually be held ultimately accountable for his failure. In reasonable times, this would be an excellent parable for the hubris of the wealthy...
The irony is not lost on me, as a Black man in America, seeing white people up in arms and claiming that there's a "two tiered" system of justice. But here's what I don't think they get; Hunter Biden or Donald Trump, rich white guys get away with shit ALL THE TIME...
There's not one set of rules for Trump and one set of rules for everyone else. No. In America, the amount of money and status that you have is directly proportional to the amount of due process and severity of the punishment you receive. Rich white people get special treatment...
To see conservatives on this here website today up in arms about Hunter Biden's plea deal while simultaneously railing against the system for Donald Trump is, to put it plainly, hilarious. Because they really think that a rich white former president can be "persecuted"...