What Brands Should Do When Comedians Attack
What is a brand to do when they find themselves on the wrong end of a comedian’s wit?
That was the dilemma faced by Waitrose after they were the latest subject of Milo McCabe’s Greeter’s Guild series in which Troy Hawke delivers impeccably styled compliments to customers at the door.
The staff, somewhat bemused, summoned security and moved him on, but not before they checked with supervisors that Jan Molby (Scouse/Danish Football icon) had not authorised his attendance as the comedian had intimated.
After the video passed 1 million views, Waitrose chose to respond:
Faux pas! Source: @waitrose
The majority of tweets that followed, bemoaning them ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ and ‘backpedalling’, seem a little harsh, but they do reveal the cynical prism through which people view brand attempts to turn this kind of incident in their favour.
The situation escalated as Molby himself replied with tongue in cheek opprobrium, before Milo McCabe vowed to seek an apology.
The joke was firmly back on Waitrose.
At The Comedy Crowd we’d proffer the idea that if you’re going to respond in this scenario you either go all in and make something genuinely funny that (crucially) continues the joke at your expense, or don’t try to be funny at all. The Waitrose response was pitched slap bang between the two.
Here are some of our ideas illustrating the sort of comic response they could have issued:
Win the crowd! Five suggestions for comedic success.
1. The Fix
Create a montage of very short slapstick sketches in which Waitrose staff surprise customers with sudden aggressive politeness e.g. jumping from behind the orange juicer to compliment them. The customers are shocked and might drop shopping / spill drinks / run away.
The accompanying tweet could simply read ‘Fixed it!’
2. The Apology
A short documentary style apology video with a Waitrose Exec earnestly explaining their dismay at the lack of Jan Molby awareness, and the tailored Jan Molby courses they would now have to undertake.
3. The Celebration
Purchase the rights to show 3 of Jan Molby’s best goals and conduct a poll to decide the greatest. Include in the tweet that all Waitrose staff are mandated to participate.
4. The Reasonable Excuse
Issue a tweet confession that a historic social media post espousing the superiority of Sainsbury’s chocolate covered raisins over those of Waitrose had been wrongly attributed to Jan Molby, and that Waitrose had for years been unfairly vetting staff to ensure ignorance of the 90’s Liverpool FC icon. Apologise.
5. The Epic
Commission a comedy series based around amusing, self deprecating, store openings. The first shows preparation for Jan Molby appreciation day, whereupon Jan is an invited star guest, opening a new ‘Olive bar’ at the Hammersmith branch.
Staff are being given Molby familiarisation training in advance, including an input on how to handle aggressively polite greeters. Talking heads describe how regretful they were over Molbygate. The video concludes with Jan Molby himself entering with a bodyguard, and the hapless greeter proudly saying ‘Good morning Mr Molby’ to the wrong man.
These are just a sample of the sort of ideas we source and develop for companies looking to use comedy.
The reality is that it’s far better to get ahead of brand perception than be responsive.
That’s why some of the smartest brands are creating strategic humour campaigns that help define a unique identity that will withstand any PR bumps along the way.
If you’d like to discuss how to do this for your brand then we’d love to help. You could do a lot worse than work with the company whose 2017 Chorts Winner was none other than a certain Milo McCabe with Troy Hawke himself.
P.S. Our annual Chorts! competition to discover the best new comedy talent and characters such as Troy Hawke is back in September. We are looking for partners now, so get in touch if you want to be part of it.
Comedy is the most engaging form of content. Let’s spread some happiness.