A chap called Thomas Cook rather cheekily asked Thomas Cook holidays on Facebook if he might score a free weekend to Paris. He made a great case, but unfortunately, their social media person was working asleep. They replied to a witty, creative post with a lame, dry “no” and a link to their website. Rubbish.
Now, I’m not saying they should have given him a holiday. Clearly, that sort of thing would get expensive quickly. But there are SO many ways they could have engaged with him entertainingly, coming off well as a brand. Instead, they left the field wide open for a competitor to step in and steal the PR – and they did:
Well played, Lowcostholidays.com.
So Mr. Cook got his free holiday, Lowcostholidays got some very low-cost publicity (including the near-priceless post on my blog here), and Thomas Cook the company got… nothing. In fact, less than nothing. They got docked ten social media points.
To end on a happy note, here’s Thomas on his jollies:
Aww. Bonnes vacances.
Tags: Facebook, fail, freebies, holidays, lowcostholidays.com, online, PR, social media, Thomas Cook
