Good and Bad PR: The winners are Keir Starmer and KFC, the losers are EasyGroup and 23andMe

As we march dangerously close to the festive retail circus it has been a strong and stable week of PR antics. Let’s get about it.

Bad PR

EasyGroup

Let’s start with a baddy. EasyGroup, of easyJet fame. What could have been a hugely positive brand experience and story turned into this week’s first Bad PR.

Easy Life were strumming away in the privacy of their own cellar when they received what sounds like a rather heavy-handed legal letter from EasyGroup saying they wanted royalty payments for use of their brand name,

Easy Life immediately capitulated, and I don’t blame them, and have vowed to play two final concerts in their original name. They will then move to a new, not yet announced, name. Rumours that RythmAir is the next name have been denied.

This reminds me of the time that Skoda sent us a legal letter about our name being “Yeti” and how they didn’t like it considering its same-named car. I wish I had kept the letter… instead I wrote over it in crayon “we launched years before your Yeti car” and sent it back to them. Never heard from them again. Best filed as a very odd story.

PS Have you seen the EasyLife tour poster? Lads, that it where you went wrong.

Good PR

KFC

Let’s sashay on over to some Good PR and KFC is our first winner. It launched a new recipe for its chips (otherwise know as Signature Fries) and it has gone down a storm. I love this story but I really think it could have strung it out for longer.

Unless I missed it, it started a billboard campaign on the Friday mocking itself for its fries, and then on the Monday it announced the new, improved, flavour. I really think it should have made more of a deal of the mocking ads, they were really funny and The Muggles were lapping it up on social media. I digress, it is a great campaign and I’m Loving It.

Bad PR

23andMe

Back to Bad PR and I really dislike giving a negative shout to a brand when it is not really its fault but 23andMe, so often a winner of Good PR here, got an unfortunate boot this week. A dataset was breached this week and password reset warnings were sent out. I originally saw it because of my own account that I have with the brand.

The global media has picked up on the story and you can see why when you think about the information that is held by the DNA masters. If that data was to fall into the wrong hands it could cause mayhem across areas such as life insurance and this has always been a concern for privacy watchdogs around the world.

At the time of writing there is no inference that any data has been used for evil purposes, but it is a very real concern for users. Another point to note, it is a great service but it did not pick up my Type 1 Diabetes before I won it, hashtag just saying!

Unusual Good PR

Let’s end on some unusual Good PR and this goes to Keir Starmer. He got glitter bombed during his conference speech and, to be fair, he dealt with it brilliantly.

Initially I suspected this could have been a party stunt of some kind, but seeing his terrified reaction makes me think this was not the case at all. Watching it back a few times, I can see why there were so many concerns about the time it took for security to nail the perp.

If the muggle had intended to do something more sinister, there was more than enough time for them to do so before anyone intervened. This is hugely troubling. No matter what your political flavour, no one wants something like this to happen.

Got it right or wrong, you know where to find me.

Written by Andy Barr, owner of 10 Yetis Digital. Seen any good or bad PR lately? Abuse and contradictory points welcomed over on The Twitter @10Yetis or andy@10Yetis.co.uk on email

Thanks to Meltwater, Good and Bad PR's data and insights supplier.