In honor of the season finale of Mad Men this week, I thought I'd focus on the ongoing media battle being fought between AMC and DISH Network, and how inbound marketing and new media PR tactics are likely going to play a role in who'll emerge on top.
The Decision to Drop One of Television's Most Beloved Networks
In case you don't already know, DISH Network informed its customers early last month the satellite provider would 'drop AMC and several other cable channels sometime this summer.'
If that sounds to you like a truly bad business move, you're right: last night 2.6 million viewers tuned in to see the Mad Men season 5 finale, up 15% percent from last year (the episode also happens to be in the #1 spot on iTunes). Similarly, if DISH Network follows through on their promise, they'll also lose The Walking Dead ' basic cable's highest ever rated adult drama among key demographics.
So AMC, in an act of protest, leveraged its formidable online social graph and created an all-out digital media campaign to try to knock DISH off of its decided course of action.
And the response has been . . . well . . . a lot of fun to watch.
AMC Fires Back
AMC launched a microsite, keepamcnetworks.com, the URL of which has been tweeted 2,251 times (387 followers), the accompanying Facebook Page has received a total of 235,987 Likes, and has a current Klout score of 40. (I'm actually having a difficult time keeping these numbers current while editing this piece. They won't be the same by the time you read this.)
The support on AMC's parent Page has been equally overwhelming: nearly every post the network publishes, despite the topic, is answered with references to the dispute, almost all in favor of AMC ' which may seem obvious seeing as how it's AMC's page, but the same phenomenon is taking place on DISH network's Page. For example, questions asking Fans their favorite childhood cartoons are periodically responded to with public declarations of disapproval. And because of the high volume of negative responses, DISH's admins are having trouble responding to all of them, producing two possible effects:
1. It makes DISH seem unable to respond to its customers.
Or
2. It makes DISH seem unwilling to respond to its customers.
I'm not actually sure which scenario's worse.
Who Will Win?
This isn't the first time David has slung the social media rock at Goliath. In his book Likeable Social Media, Likeable Media CEO Dave Kerpen writes of country singer Dave Carroll's online war with United Airlines over a busted guitar. The country celeb took to YouTube after an unsatisfactory response from United, recording a video titled, 'United Breaks Guitars,' that has accrued over twelve million views to date and costed the United shareholders a 10% dip in stock price initially following the event.
So who's going to win? I'm calling it right now: no matter what DISH network decides to do ' whether they keep AMC or drop the channel as planned ' DISH is looking at a difficult recovery. DISH's stock price has already dropped 3 points since the announcement, and if the climbing numbers of Likes and Retweets is any indication, it's not over yet. Prior to the Mad Men season finale last evening, DISH retaliated by bumping AMC from channel 130 to 9609 'where infomercials and similarly low-quality programming reside' ' a tactic that can easily be perceived as 'childish.'
And notice the 'Most Popular Age Group' category on the left-hand side of the Likes page: 18 ' 24 year olds have a lot of TV watching years ahead of them, and their associations with the DISH Network brand are likely somewhat altered for at least the foreseeable future.
What To Do If You Ever Decide to Drop Mad Men ' or Your Small- to Medium-sized Business Equivalent.
First of all, DISH might have avoided this type of backlash if they'd done some simple research before even making their decision to lose the channel. If you're going to alter your business model in any way, have a look at some of your social media followers ' are you about to change something that will run counter to their other interests? Also, coordinate with your attorney or legal department and any other relevant departments in crafting a crisis communications plan ' how will you diffuse a potential crisis even before it gets out of hand?
As always, we want to hear from you. Anybody ever come close to a DISH Network-sized social media catastrophe? How have you and your business responded to negative comments in the past?
Thanks so much, but if you'll excuse me, it's been a long day ' I've got a season finale to watch.
While I still can.
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