Case Study
F500 Retailer Avoids Getting Called Out in Online Petition Targeting the Fashion Industry
The Challenge
A Fortune 500 retailer needed help tracking and analyzing topics they cared most about… especially those aligned with their company values
They had seen numerous conversations about their brand go viral with no warning, and they had little guidance on how the conversations started in the first place, who was really behind them, or what their motivations might be.
They were reacting to narratives going viral online and unable to tell when those narratives were engaging real people or the product of bots and accounts gaming social media algorithms to make something trend.
They needed a solution that filled in these intelligence gaps and gave them the confidence in briefing leadership and making recommendations on whether and how to act.
The Solution
The Yonder platform was set up to track discussions around issues that are important to the brand and its stakeholders, including labor and wages in the fashion industry
Their Yonder Incident Management solution alerted them of a campaign, called #payup, that groups online were developing on Twitter.
The campaign targeted brands that had cancelled in-production orders as a result of retail constriction following the outbreak of COVID-19. The Yonder solution showed that this was an authentic narrative with a likelihood to go viral.
The communications team had the opportunity to lead discussions with their leadership and proactively put
a plan in place. The brand quickly architected changes to their internal policies to be in line with the guidelines
of the #payup movement…further reiterating their
brand values.
The Result
As the story blew up in the media and across the social web, the brand was either not mentioned or was mentioned as one of the brands who had actually positively responded to the campaign
This saved time, energy and chaos for the communications, analytics and leadership teams; and reinforced brand alignment with customers who share their values. The brand continues to monitor the #payup hashtag and factions involved as research shows that 9 times out of 10, a narrative that is successful online will re-emerge.
