[KWG Resources] How a junior mining company’s video featuring bikini-clad women spouting Ring of Fire facts became a cautionary tale for marketers – by Dave Burnett (Financial Post – September 14, 2016)

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Dave Burnett is CEO of AOK Marketing, a Toronto-based firm that helps traditional offline businesses get discovered online

Here’s a cautionary tale for marketers everywhere. If somebody at your next marketing meeting suggests using two scantily clad young women to convey terribly mundane facts about mining — yes, mining — suggest they reconsider their chosen profession. Unless, as the chief executive or business owner, the idea was yours. In which case you need to heed the sage advice of your marketing team and change course before embarrassing your company.

Either approach might have helped prevent last month’s epic marketing failure by Canadian mining company KWG Resources. In it, two bikini-clad women share facts about the Ring of Fire, a mineral-rich area in Northern Ontario.

In a media interview, Frank Smeenk, CEO of KWG Resources, defended the video: “Attractive women attract eyes,” he said. “All junior companies trying to raise capital for exploration are always trying to figure out how to bring attention to their stories.”

While the latter comment is true, it’s the former one that’s problematic. Yes, sex can sell in certain marketing contexts. But mining? There’s a good chance Smeenk hoped to make a “viral” video before he produced this clip, which is a mistake many companies make.

This video highlights two potential pitfalls for marketers in the digital era: the main one is the need to tailor all collateral to suit your brand — and that includes a focus on professionalism and recognizing obvious social and cultural sensitivities.

For the rest of this article, click here: http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/growth-strategies/how-to-stop-your-video-from-going-viral-for-all-the-wrong-reasons?__lsa=0a8d-f4b7