{"id":532,"date":"2011-07-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-30T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/five-lessons-from-the-bud-spencer-tunnel-case\/"},"modified":"2024-02-20T10:34:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T09:34:24","slug":"five-lessons-from-the-bud-spencer-tunnel-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/blog\/five-lessons-from-the-bud-spencer-tunnel-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Lessons from the Bud Spencer Tunnel Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the end, the tunnel in Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd won\u2019t be named for the alter ego of movie star Carlo Pedersoli, even though tens of thousands of voters called for it on Facebook. A pity, but unsurprising. Who expects city councils to have a sense of humor and a feel for marketing? It is much more interesting to see what companies and organizations can learn from the case. A chronicle of the events and five conclusions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are the ingredients of silly season stories and communication crises: a tunnel costing millions of Euros, an ageing Italian movie star, eager students and an outmatched city administration.<\/p>\n

All the time, the authorities in Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd had nothing but the best intentions. On the city\u2019s website, they asked their citizens to help them name the new tunnel on the B29 road. After all, they had learned from the Stuttgart 21 railway debacle. And they actually received many suggestions. The city eliminated the most bizarre suggestions, and placed the remaining names on its own website for a vote \u2013 including sonorous names like \u201cSalvator Tunnel\u201d, politically tricky names like \u201cErwin Rommel Tunnel\u201d and: \u201cBud Spencer Tunnel\u201c.<\/p>\n

The latter was like two-handed slap in the face<\/strong>. When the vote started, a student created a \u201cVote for Bud Spencer Tunnel!\u201d group on Facebook<\/a> \u2013 and it spread like wildfire. Tens of thousands did just that, they joined the group and voted online for their childhood hero.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Carolo<\/a><\/p>\n

Carolo Pedersoli, fotographed\u00a0by \u00a0Mich\u00e9l Buchmann<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Of course, the city wasn\u2019t expecting that, which is why the city\u2019s PR officer immediately did an about turn. They said the vote was only intended to provide an impression of the public opinion, and therefore non-binding, of course. This led to a flood of protesting e-mails, hefty criticism and discussions online. The well-meaning campaign became an instrument of sham democracy in the view of the Facebook campaigners. That gave the vote on naming a mundane tunnel an entirely new dimension \u2013 and the public interest placed enormous pressure on the city administration as a result. Traditional media in over 40 countries reported on the case. Even the potential namesake responded, saying that he \u201cfelt honored and would of course come to the tunnel inauguration.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days and one Pro-Bud Spencer Tunnel Protest later, the city council rejected the proposal in a public meeting. Instead, they planned to name an open-air swimming pool \u201cBad Spencer\u201d.<\/p>\n

This story did not make the Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd city authorities look good<\/strong>, but they did succeed in segueing astonishingly quickly from confrontation to dialog, and, in the end, got to grips with the crisis. On the city\u2019s website, its Facebook page in the campaign groups, communication was open and direct, and the final decision in the city council was broadcast live online. The end result was a somewhat silly compromise, but at least it didn\u2019t trigger another \u201cshitstorm\u201d. Needless to say that Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd passed up a historic opportunity to market itself with this decision.<\/p>\n

By the way, Bud Spencer\u2019s German publishers did great work.<\/strong> They joined the Facebook groups early and played a leading role in the discussions \u2013 right up to developing the proposed compromise.<\/p>\n

What conclusions can marketing and PR managers take from the Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd case?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Anyone who asks the public to get involved online in any way must communicate the rules from the outset, and stick to them. Retrospective changes lead straight to a communication crisis. That should be clear \u2013 but obviously isn\u2019t, as German washing-up liquid brand Pril\u2019s recent disaster proved.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tip:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Be prepared to accept the outcome of votes and interactive campaigns from the outset. Don\u2019t change the rules!<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0At the moment, public involvement is impossible without Facebook \u2013 even if the campaign wasn\u2019t started there. Somebody will always look for supporters for their cause on the network with the greatest reach.<\/p>\n

Tip:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Ideally, you should run and moderate surveys on your own Facebook page.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The fact that the process of naming a tunnel in Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd was originally a local matter was only relevant in the beginning.<\/p>\n

Tip:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Find a powerful, clearly defined subject that inspires interaction for Facebook campaigns \u2013 don\u2019t create pseudo-interactivity for its own sake.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0The more relevant the topic, the faster the group will reach a critical mass. That makes it relevant for traditional media.<\/p>\n

Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0Monitor groups continuously. You can use them to find stories for your own PR work and identify risks to your reputation.<\/em><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0The online community plays with its expectations of brands, municipal administrations and companies. Humor is the key \u2013 whether ironic or dark.<\/p>\n


\nTip:<\/strong> Brands and companies need thick skins in the social web. Those that react to humorous attacks with a quick wit and a sense of humor instead of taking offence and acting repressively can earn brownie points \u2013 just like in real life.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more on the topic, click here and<\/a>\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the end, the tunnel in Schw\u00e4bisch-Gm\u00fcnd won\u2019t be named for the alter ego of movie star Carlo Pedersoli, even though tens\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-en","category-point-of-view"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4732,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/4732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calliesundschewe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}