Tongues were wagging on social media this week after it came to light that a Google search for high street bakery Greggs brought up an offensive slogan.
Alongside a description about the sausage roll specialist sat a picture saying ‘Greggs – Serving s*** to scum for over 70 years’. The image remained on the Google page for several hours after being highlighted and was eventually removed following an exchange of amusing tweets between the two businesses.
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In the wake of the incident, Information Security Buzz sought the opinion of Phil Stelter, managing director of performance-based digital marketing agency Unique Digital, about Greggs’ reaction. Stelter’s agency works with brands such as Ovo Energy and Kettle Chips to respond to issues in real-time, and approved of the bakery’s speedily issued, humorous, approach.
He said: “The front page of Google is your shop front: the reality for a lot of brands is this page can be more important than any physical store.
“Mistakes do happen, but it’s vital brands tend to their online presence with the same attentiveness – would graffiti be left on the front of a Greggs shop, or removed as soon as possible?
“Brands which plan marketing activities in real time are at a major advantage in this point. It was great to see Greggs moving quickly and tweeting a tray of donuts, offering them to Google as a reward for fixing the problem. That was retweeted nearly 800 times; Google responded with a self-deprecating image of Homer Simpson eating donuts at work which racked up 450 retweets.
“Both organisations had a problem to address, but turned it into something positive. This is a great example of real-time planning and agile marketing in practice – other brands should take note.”
Phil Stelter, Managing Director, Unique Digital
About Unique Digital
We can tell you that we’re a performance based digital media agency, but that’s not what separates us from the herd – it’s not what makes us unique. We’ve combined the strengths of an independent agency with the muscles of a group. Think of Unique as a collection of specialist agencies, working together to provide integrated services that help brands grow.
Our people are some of the best in the business, and most are bilingual or multilingual. We’ve got people from 16 countries, speaking 23 languages and dialects. We’re one of only a handful of agencies to offer such a high level of language capabilities in-house.
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