Someone did an amazing hack of McDonald's for the International Serious Games event. An Italian group called MolleIndustria made an interactive game in which you can simulate running McDonalds, mowing down rainforests and spreading heart attacks in your wake. The hoaxsters presented their game at the Gaming event, pretending to be McDonald's executives.
They claimed they learned their lesson - that McDonald's threatened to destroy the world if it keeps up its current business practices. Now, they said, they were going to spread the message until they were fired. They claimed younger recruits at the company who played the game as a management exercise "got it" right away, while the entrenched executives refused to see the light.
The hoax, initially reported in several spots as real, and corrected by Consumerist, is being picked up in blogs all over the web. Now the hoax has gotten so much organic word-of-mouth buzz that the Serious Games site is down - I assume it couldn't handle the traffic it was getting. Or did they get a C&D?
So, what is the lesson here for those marketers who avidly try to generate Word of Mouth?
One, the internet populace cannot be controlled, so companies can't expect to control their corporate messaging. Customer needs must now be thoroughly incorporated into business plans and product development to prevent any negative activism from gaining popularity (McDonald's has actually done a good job of getting salads and healthier sandwiches onto the menu, so kudos to them).
Two, it's SO IMPORTANT for companies to develop their own online community that can say good things about them when the going gets rough. I call this concept "WOM anti-virus". I would highly recommend that every CSR department start a community -- perhaps with one of my top clients, Communispace -- that will help them understand public sentiment, and begin to genuinely and organically spread good buzz for them if they deserve it.
Need I point out that the community won't back up the corporation (Two) unless the corporation backs up the community (One)? I wish that went without saying.
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