Knowing When to Keep Your Head Down #QantasLuxury

I’m currently watching a branding mistake unfold on Twitter (#qantasluxury). The idea is a good one, but the timing is a disaster.

So what’s happening?

Qantas has launched “A touch of Qantas Luxury Twitter Competition“, where, for a chance to win one of fifty $30 prize packs, you have to:

(a) log onto www.twitter.com;
(b) tweet a response in 140 characters or less to the @QantasAirways tweet ‘What is your dream luxury inflight experience? (Be creative!)?’
(c) tweets must include the hashtag #QantasLuxury.

The prize? “one pair of Qantas First Class pyjamas and one First Class amenity kit” (seriously?)

Unfortunately, this is all happening at a time when the Qantas brand and reputation is really at rock-bottom in the Australian community. The last thing you should be doing is putting your brand in the hands of that community through a social media campaign like #qantasluxury.

If I was Qantas, I’d be sticking to channels where I can completely control the corporate image and message, and keeping my head down when it comes to social media and, to a lesser extent, traditional media.

The other problem is, with the runaway branding train that is happening at the moment on Twitter, how do you stop it?