Let’s face it—SA Idols season 5 was a disaster before it even started. First there was the announcement that in the judges opinion only 12 of the Top 24 were suitable to go through to the next level. Anyone with the slightest understanding of how tough the media world is finding things right now would know the real reason was that the budget had been cut and this was the ‘spin’ the marketing team had come up with to sell to a gullible audience the reason for reducing the budget/number of shows/quality of the set.
Then we had the offensive replacement of the Idols ‘face’ Colin Moss who had done a pretty decent job over the years of branding the show in a way that showed empathy without being patronizing. But what to do when Colin decided he would rather pursue a career in movies? Find a replacement and then ask the marketing team to come up with a suitable strategy for conveying to the audience the change. Their response? An offensive, tasteless and altogether without merit skit that showed Colin being hit by a car that looked like a taxi. And instead of him carrying on where he left off he was replaced by Liezl van der Westhuizen. What a ghastly way to replace someone.
And now we have the debacle surrounding the counting of votes. Talk about a public relations disaster. So what does MNet do? Call on the same incompetent marketing team to spin it yet again: Get the CEO to explain to a disbelieving public how they couldn’t count less than 3 million votes in the time available and that there were no checks and balances to ensure that all the valid votes were counted. (Idol in the USA had 46 million votes last week—that’s more than the entire South African population and they got it right). So what does Patricia Scholtemeyer, the CEO of MNet say: There was a problem and we have fixed it. The public will judge us on that basis. I can’t believe she actually believes that. Calling a press conference doesn’t actually do anything for the brand when you decide to announce that … listen to this … as a world first we will now have two Idols! How patronizing. And she actually thinks that has solved something. If I was Jason or Sasha-Lee I would tell them to shove it and then sell my story to make up the prize value.
2 responses so far ↓
mike // May 11, 2009 at 10:19 am |
Mnet have shown complete disrespect for the public by telling them that they had a 100% say in the voting and there would only be one winner, and then they decide the final outcome. Votes have shown the public chose Jason. They must let keep her prizes but not the title.
carol // May 12, 2009 at 10:14 am |
If you can’t manage the business volumes, close the lines. Surely someone in marketing is capable of planning? The revenue received was the driver, not the efficiency or reliability of counting.
Based on past track record, disrespect for the public (and advertisers) is not a concern for Ms Scholtemeyer until the controlling bodies get involved. As a member of the public, I judge – MNet are unethical and underhanded.