There's an interesting discussion taking place on Twitter regarding the furore over Activities Abroad's anti-chav approach. We covered it briefly yesterday.
A poll launched earlier today asked the following question:
"Is Activities Abroad's chav PR wheeze a Ratner moment (i.e. a disaster) or a Richard Branson moment?"
Within a few hours of the story whizzing further around the mainstream media this morning, Travel Republic sent out a press release saying how they would give a 10% discount to anyone with a first name on AA's hitlist of chavsters.
PR follows PR.
What this whole saga has shown is that companies (in any sector) are turning to increasingly desperate methods to drum up business. Or, should that really be read as companies are turning to increasingly innovative methods to drum up business?
The next few weeks will tell if Activities Abroad has made an enormous faux pas with its chav marketing campaign.
So while post people fawned over the cleverness of the Queensland Island campaign a few weeks back, this latest piece of PR may divide opinion as to its content but we suspect it probably hasn't done much harm at all to sales at Activities Abroad.
And it is hardly the first time that a company has used shock tactics etc to grab people's attention.
Shock tactics? I don't think so. If you listen to the interview Ali from AA gave on Nicky Campbell's show - which you linked to yesterday... he doesn't suggest they went out there looking to go viral or garner heaps of comment by doing something outrageous. They were just trying to offer their existing customers something a bit quirky and fun... rather than the usual (Hot Deals for 2009! email splurge)
If that blogger hadn't picked it up that would have been that. I think that's what the whole saga really demonstrates - the increasing impact of bloggers... You can read my post on the subject at:
http://www.travelblather.com/2009/01/chav-free_holidays.html