Trevor Young | PR Warrior blog | Where PR meets social media meets content marketing

Harvey Norman's Gerry Harvey - Stranded at the Dance Without a Partner?

Even seasoned media performers (politicians especially) can misread the mood of the people and embark on a public campaign that backfires on them badly, and in today's hyper-connected world, when it backfires it does so pretty damn quickly!.

Over the past couple of days the last man standing without a partner at the big dance was Gerry Harvey, business icon and the face of retailing giant, Harvey Norman.

I like Gerry. I enjoy his direct manner and common touch. He uses language that is direct and cuts to the chase. Unfortunately, on this occasion, he left the 'common' behind - he showed that he was plain out of step with consumers.

PIC: SMH

For the uninitiated, Gerry is spearheading a campaign by Australia's big retailers designed to pressure the Federal Government into applying Goods and Services Tax (GST) to goods bought from overseas-based online retailers. Currently, anything purchased overseas via the web escapes the 10 per cent levy. 

Now, anyone who has even tripped over someone who once went online and accidentally bought something from overseas (via dial-up no less!) knows this whole topic is a no-go zone from a consumer perspective.

Amazon Gets It

Australians are increasingly buying online from overseas because it's cheaper (so much so that a 10 per cent GST would make little difference), our dollar is so strong against the US Greenback in particular, the range is superior plus overseas online retailers like Amazon, well, they get it. Their websites are functional and easy to use comparative to a lot of Australian retail sites.

But then, Gerry has never really been a big believer in the web - this article 'Gerry Harvey has his head in the sand - online retailers' appeared in 2008.

I'm not here to debate the veracity of the major retailers' campaign, suffice to say they've backed a dog of a horse and while Gerry has publicly been left holding the (nose)bag, there are others who are complicit in this ill-conceived PR 'effort'.

But I digress ...

Reason for this post is to highlight (a) the need to understand your market, (b) the need to understand who is influencing whom, and (c) why you should never under-estimate the power of social media.

Let's dodge (a) - Gerry obviously understands the consumer marketplace generally - duh - but (b) he cocked up on this one, and (c) methinks he completely stuffed up on this one too ... sorry Gerry :)

I don't have any stats on this but you'd have to say that intuitively a fair proportion of people who shop online would also be active on social media. Put another way, a lot of active Tweeters do shop online (the topic does come up regularly in Tweetstreams).

So you'd have to think this groundswell of support for online shopping would galvanise in the wake of the big retailers' campaign to have the government impose GST on goods purchased from overseas.

But this is not just a social media thing. It may have been fuelled by the social media brigade (The "Dear Gerry Harvey'' topic on Twitter was the No.4 trending topic in the world in the past 24 hours, according to this report in the Courier-Mail) but it broadened quickly. Public reaction was swift and has cut across newspapers, TV and talkback radio especially.

Unfortunately for Gerry Harvey, he has a few bridges to mend. The question now is, how deeply has his involvement in this campaign damaged the Harvey Norman brand?

Steve Jobs Health Debate Reinforces Long Held PR Theory

There's a theory PR practitioners hold true and that is, if a crisis or an issue (or an allegation/rumour with strong substantiation) bubbles to the surface, if the people responsible don't come out and clear the air, then the media will find its own angle, usually by interviewing others.

If anything, this theory is more important that ever; thanks to Twitter, the blogosphere and proliferation of online communities, news and opinion travels faster than wildfire.

Now, I'm a pragmatist at heart and there might be valid reasons why a company or individual are slow to come forward to clear the air on a particular issue, and that's entirely understandable. Let's face it, we're never privy to the inside machinations of what's going on in most circumstances. But the public don't care about that, and the media most certainly doesn't. 

The current Steve Jobs health 'crisis' is a good case in point.

Rumours have been swirling for ages about the Apple chief's health (see before and after pic below). So much so the Apple share price was pummeled towards the end of 2008 because investors had been kept in the dark over the issue. In fact, concerns about Jobs' health emerged mid-last year.

Left, Jack Dabaghian/Reuters; right, Tony Avelar/Bloomberg News

The notoriously secret Jobs has finally 'come clean' in a statement released on January 5. At least a line has been drawn in the sand and everyone can move on for now. Macworld continued on its merry way sans Jobs and the Apple share price rose.

Simply, this was always going to happen, and by getting in earlier, the story would have been pretty much killed off. 

Instead, it's been allowed to fester for months, which has helped no-one (except perhaps the media) - including Apple staff and families, shareholders, consumers, even Jobs himself.

Media Runs Amok as Corey Thumbs Nose

A pair of over-sized yellow sunglasses, a pink doona and an 'up yours' attitude has turned one young Melbourne lad into a media sensation overnight.

Corey Delaney is the 16-year-old self-confessed party animal who organised a street party in the Melbourne outer suburb of Narre Warren, only to see it - and his life shortly after - spin out of control.

Firstly the party, which Corey organised while his parents were away on holiday. It attracted - if you believe media reports - up to 500 rampaging, drunken youths. Damage was caused to neighbouring property and the police were called.

Then came the inevitable follow-up - the media pack in full force! Corey and his mates, far from being shy, retiring types, lapped up the attention. Check out TV show A Current Affair on YouTube, where interviewee Corey is pressured into apologising. Despite being asked to remove his sunglasses, he refuses. A classic moment where a TV interviewer - in this case Leila McKinnon - has met her match in the form of a 16-year-old kid!

The story quickly hit the Australian news pages and airwaves as every tub-thumping columnist and radio commentator weighed into the situation; within no time, Corey's story had spread internationally, where media outlets such as The Guardian, BBC, Channel 4 plus Reuters news agency covered it.

According to The Age newspaper, the party made front news page of the BBC website (where it was described as a teen riot), and became the site's second most read story.

The social media network has also gone into overdrive and no doubt has helped to fuel the story and giving it legs, although Corey's unrepentant stance (he's refusing to meet with his parents who quit their holiday to come home and confront their young son) and outlandish dress sense hasn't hurt either. Opinion is generally divided as to whether Corey is an idiot (chances are you're over 25), or legend (chances are you're under 25). Now that we're into media overkill, it's likely public sympathy will swing Corey's way as the community implores everyone to simply leave the poor kid alone.

In the interim, celebrity managers and party promoters Australia-wide have implored the youngster to give them a call. This story is not going away in a hurry - well, a week, anyway!