Thursday, March 29, 2012

PARTY PARTY


BE THERE

Skittles


Loved this article in the NY Times. In any situation, you gotta track the money. Where is it going and where's it coming from?

Skittles is in the cat bird seat and I like their response:

"For its part, Wrigley has chosen to make only a subdued statement about its product, saying the company is deeply saddened, respects the family’s privacy and feels 'it inappropriate to get involved or comment further as we would never wish for our actions to be perceived as an attempt of commercial gain following this tragedy.'"

You can't be mad at that and from a PR perspective, it's smart. That said, if leaders and activists are smart, they will understand that there is an opening here for dialogue and negotiation. Someone, whether it's the NAACP, the President of Spellman, etc. should contact Wrigleys and ask for this...

Skittles at cost. There should be a program instituted immediately where Wrigleys provides skittles at cost and then these activist groups could sell them at a profit to their organizations. What better way to support these organizations and promote your brand. Every one wins. It also eliminates the issue of needing to figure out how much business its brought to Wrigleys and what the exact impact is. To be honest, more companies and organizations should work together in this way. It saves the company money on advertising/promotion and the organizations benefit directly off what they promote. It's just like that world's famous chocolate bar hustle. Which makes me think... people should create healthier candies for fundraising purposes...