Debenhams Croydon gets to the bottom of it
Big businesses are full of sass right now. Croydon-dwellers were met with quite a treat yesterday when the self-titled “world’s grumpiest old woman” glued her posterior to the shop window of a Debenhams wearing nothing but a thong and a sash.
A Debenhams spokesperson’s response was nothing short of brilliant: “It is great to hear that customers like our window displays so much that they would like to be part of it.
“We can confirm that she will not be a permanent fixture."
For some time now, businesses have been a bit less wooden when faced with a crisis. Take Sainsbury’s, which last year engaged in hours of back-and forth fish puns with its customers: “It would be shellfish of us not to get it sorted. We wouldn’t bream of upsetting our customers by accident or on porpoise.” You had to be there really…
Car-makers Smart also had a laugh with a complaint on social media in 2012. One Twitter user suggested that a single bird dropping would put a dent in the company’s two-seaters. Smart came back with a helpful graphic that showed it would take 4.5m birds to finish the job: “No really, we did the math,” it added.
Alice Reeves at social media agency Jellyfish said that this is a big step in marketing: “More and more businesses are seeing what might before have been a crisis as an opportunity to profit from a moment of humour.”
However, while retailers are getting ahead of the curve, politicians are lagging. According to the Greek government, there is a false Twitter account dedicated to finance minister George Chouliarakis. It sent a statement to the press yesterday explaining that the account was not his, adding that “Mr Chouliarakis neither owns nor intends to own, in the future, any social media account.” Come on Greece, times they are are a-changing.
IVAN NEEDS TO BUILD A BRIDGE
It seems the establishment hasn’t quite grown out of the silly season yet. Former mayoral candidate Ivan Massow hit out at Labour hopeful Sadiq Khan following his declaration yesterday that he would scrap plans for a £60m Garden Bridge between Temple and the South Bank. Massow tweeted regarding the news with the hashtag: #vivelaf**kingrevolution. Later, the ex- City Hall hopeful, economist and conservative politician told The Capitalist: “I get really upset with the dour socialist view that everything has to be dull and boring”, and this was between fits of giggles. Naughty, naughty.
INTERNET RETAIL AWARDS SEES BOSSES ROLL THE DICE
This year’s Internet Retail Awards by Hyde Park was nothing short of glam. Bosses from every corner of the web; from luxury department chain House of Fraser to sellers of lingerie (and other things…) Lovehoney, all had a go at roulette at the Vegas-inspired do. House of Fraser almost won a full-house, picking up three separate awards. Well played!