I got sucked into the saga of the #tacotuesday hashtag a little bit today and, of course, it got my social media strategy wheels turning.
When Taco John’s decided to put the hammer down on the use of #tacotuesday by Oklahoma City’s own Iguana Mexican Grill (read the saga on NewsOK) as well as the tweets it used to support its position, the national brand was taking a gamble.
It was counting on the benefit to their brand in keeping #tacotuesday was better than alienating a market it wasn’t in. Now if Taco John’s has no plans to come back to OKC (as Steve Lackmeyer points out, they’ve failed here multiple times), then that’s a gamble that pays off and all of the sound and fury on Twitter today doesn’t really matter to its business.
But what gets me is that Taco John chooses to ignore everything happening in the social media space after engaging when it felt it served them.
If you are going to start a fire online, either put it out , tend to it or use it to make you warm.
Taco John pulled the Bigfoot routine, stomping in to show those Okies a thing or two and then getting out of Dodge when the complaints rolled in.
If you don’t care, say it. If you want people to talk to your lawyers, say that. If you want folks to buzz off, say that.
Just say something. Running away to hide just makes a big company look like a small coward online.
Now pass me a taco.
I personally don’t understand the need to beat this concept like a dead horse on Twitter. Why can’t the name simply be changed? Taco Johns has owned the copyright for 28 years. I’m all for supporting local restaurants, but I don’t understand snarky *poignant* tweets like: “FU Taco Johns” and the like. Don’t immature tweets like that portray the exact image of rednecked Okies that we are trying to escape?
As far as Taco Johns PR not responding publicly, I’m going to assume they took the high road out. To me saying nothing at all is better than rude angered attacks.
“The FIRST RULE of #tacotuesday is you DO NOT Talk about #tacotuesday” – Tyler “Taco” Durden 🙂
All joking aside, here’s my opinions…
This was my takeaway in my perspective. The problem was the PR. It wasn’t that fact that may have to protect in order to keep it (if that’s truly the case). I am very sensitive to trademark and copyright issues, I just think that in todays hyper-connected world, that companies and brands must learn how to adapt on how to handle these issues wiser, as a result of a now open and free forum that anyone can see what is happening behind the scenes anytime. In my humble opinion, the tweet they put out defending themselves, was the tipping point from a PR perspective. I am not a lawyer, don’t claim to be one either…therefore I do not know the legalities when it comes to a case like this. I am sure it could be analyzed to death, debated and looked at on many different levels in many different ways. I guess at the end of the day…it really boils down to community, transparency and the outcome when you are in a time where everything is wide open and realtime. Great Post Mike. Just my opinions, as usual I am sure there is someone(s)who knows much more about this than me.
_DG
Mike,
The saga was fun to watch unfold. I was an instigator and a participant not only because I am a student of business cases and social media but also because I love Iguana.
While I understand the importance of protecting your brand, (I talk about personal branding and business branding everyday) when a company goes too far is hard to determine. Taco Johns may never open another location in Oklahoma City but they will be damned if I ever make a stop at one of their 400 plus locations while I am traveling for business or for pleasure. That is unless something changes because tomorrow is a new day and there is always room for another taco.
Jessica
@blogging4jobs
Going to try to make it there tonight. Save one for me.
I don’t know… A taco made by some guy named ‘John’ just doesn’t sound that appetizing to me.
You want quail, pork, or mushroom?
I’ve been asking other places if they’ve had any action from Taco John’s over their use of the hashtag, and from New York to Miami to Indy to LA, The Iguana seems to be the only one. Maybe they haven’t gotten everything sorted against those restaurants yet, but I like to think it has more to do with the fact that Oklahomans keeping it local and real is too much for their corporate mindset to understand.
You want quail, pork, or mushroom?
I’ve been asking other places if they’ve had any action from Taco John’s over their use of the hashtag, and from New York to Miami to Indy to LA, The Iguana seems to be the only one. Maybe they haven’t gotten everything sorted against those restaurants yet, but I like to think it has more to do with the fact that Oklahomans keeping it local and real is too much for their corporate mindset to understand.
a taco from Iguana! *NOM!*