Top 5 Marketing, Advertising and Social Media Happenings This Week

Papa John’s Big Time Slip: John Schnatter, aka Papa John himself, has been roped into quite a PR and well, life, mess. He recently resigned as CEO of the company about seven months ago and this week it came to light that he used a racial slur during a company-wide conference call prior to his resignation.

What’s happening now? Papa John’s is now planning to remove him from all marketing materials going forward and has completely parted ways with the figure who has been the face of the organization for decades.

To make matters worse, this is the time when the company really needs a public relations firm to help (we would call it executing a crisis communications plan) and unfortunately, the PR firm representing Papa John’s decided to cut ties immediately following the breaking news of Schnatter’s snide comment. They are also losing out on partnerships with professional sports teams and other major companies, which is a big revenue booster for them annually.

Our takeaway: not only is this an indecent thing to say as a human being, but for someone like Schnatter to make it as the representative of a massive organization, it’s even worse. Hopefully he learns from this and in the meantime, we’ll applaud the company for handling this so quickly and professionally!

Instagram Adds a New Question Feature: If you’re an avid Instagram user, you’re likely to have noticed the new feature plastering your followers’ stories this week. This may seem like all fun and games, except for one thing: your answers aren’t anonymous. Several people found this out the other day, according to the Independent UK. This may be due to the lack of a formal announcement from Instagram explaining that they are in fact not.

A tip: If you don’t see the new questions sticker, make sure you’ve updated it to the latest version for iOS and Android – version 52 is what you want.

Twitter Takes on Fake Accounts: Twitter announced yesterday that it would be getting rid of the ‘suspicious’, aka fake accounts, that follow you. So, don’t worry if your number of followers drops, it’s just Twitter’s way of keeping you safe. Most people will lose a few followers but for celebrities and professional athletes, they’ll be losing a lot. According to CNN, this move comes after the New York Times wrote about a firm that sold up to several million fake followers to customers who wanted to boost their stature on Twitter. Really?

The Justice Department Appeals Time Warner-AT&T Merger: Back in June, a federal judge ruled that the pre-negotiated deal of $85.4 billion was legal and went on to approve the merger. Now, the DoJ is saying ‘never mind’ – they have decided to appeal this ruling. The reason this is such a big deal is because some feel it would make the TV market less competitive and less innovative, according to CNBC. AT&T’s argument in this whole ordeal is that if they’re able to purchase Time Warner, they will finally be able to compete with streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix.

We will wait to see what happens next, but don’t sit too long because this could be a very interesting turn for AT&T’s future should the appeal be overturned.

Thai Soccer Team Rescued: On Tuesday, after a long nine days stuck in a cave without food or water, all 12 boys and their soccer coach were extracted from the cave safe and sound. This sent the internet and television worlds abuzz – with coverage constantly on every news channel, Twitter and Facebook all helped keep the world updated on this situation. The Thai Navy SEALs used their Facebook page to post continuous updates including video footage of the rescues and even a welcome ceremony after the boys had all been cleared from the hospital.

The Internet is a crazy way to keep up with current events like this and this is just a recent, feel-good example of how the world finds some positive in the negative through social media and beyond.