And then something goes terribly wrong.
It has happened to me...and chances are good it will happen again someday.
The good news is, I've never spent the kind of money Radio Shack spent today.
For those of you who don't know, I am a big fan of the Tour de France. One of the key players in this years Tour (as has been the case for many, many years) is Lance Armstrong - who rides for Team Radio Shack. Chances are good you've heard of him and his charity Livestrong, which advocates on behalf of cancer prevention and treatment while also providing tons of support for the 28 million people afflicted with the horrible disease throughout the world. You've probably seen my yellow wristband and know that I have supported Livestrong for quite some time.
Livestrong has been at the forefront of social media. I have been getting tweets from @Lancearmstrong and @LivestrongCEO for almost two years. They really get it, and use it well.
Almost too well.
Today is the last day of the Tour, and as part of a campaign to promote the Livestrong charity Team Radio Shack created new black cycling jerseys for the team to wear. They promoted them by twitter(#team28)...they jazzed them on facebook (where you could send a facebook jersey & add "28" to your profile picture)...they even bought commercials on the TV broadcast promoting them and the "Team28" campaign. Only one problem...they forgot to ask the Tour de France if the team could wear them.
Oops. Minor slip there. The team got to the starting line and the Tour referees told them they had to change back into their normal red jerseys. Even the mighty Lance couldn't convince them otherwise. Now the campaign had to run without one big element - the jersey itself on the backs of the riders.
Don't get me wrong, the "controversy" got a bunch of press too...and Radio Shack and Livestrong got plenty of attention during the early miles of the final day (if you follow the Tour you know the last day is not really that exciting as a bike race until the last half hour). Trust me, though, there are some very ticked off Radio Shack marketing execs stuck with a bill for an advertising campaign that the everyday consumer might have missed.
You're not alone, folks...but this is a reminder to us all to do our homework.
Postscript: OK, so Team Radio Shack got their revenge a bit. Because they were the top overall team TRS gets to stand on the podium at the Champs Elysees. The referees can't control what the team wears on the podium so of course they put their Team28 jerseys back on. Not sure it got them very far (since we could only see the front and they were really designed for the back) but they did get some additional publicity for the Livestrong cause. Cheers Lance, Cheers Livestrong.
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