NFL – New England Patriots Social Media

The Overview:  1 Million Campaign

The campaign was part of a social media campaign that the Patriots were running in celebration of being the first football team to officially hit 1 million followers. Every time that someone shared a customized message created by the Patriots, giving thanks to fans for supporting them in their quest to surpass the rest of the league in terms of Twitter followers, the team would create a customized digital jersey for that person, placing their name on the back of the shirt. (1)

The Outcome:

Internet trolls begin to crawl from the cracks and crevices  of the online world looking to capitalize on an opportunity to publicly embarrass the organization or brand. (2). The team jersey was publicized with a racial slur that went viral and as such millions of fans did pay attention, and called for NFL’s top leaders to shut down the Patriots’ Twitter account.  It caused brand and image damage. Public embarrassment. Possible career damage for executive(s) and complete meltdown for monitoring company’s reputation.

• SM² Discovery (preventative)
• SM² Social Media Marketing Conversion Campaign (preventative)
• SM² Social Media Content Management (protective)
• SM² Public Relations/Crisis Plan and Tactical Drills (protective)
• SM² Crisis Implementation (protective)

Sources: Boston Globe (1-2)