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Be careful what you put down on paper (or in the ether!)

February 9th 2011

Michael Clark

MKT Managing Director, Michael is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and former in-house head of Marketing for Samsung Communications in the UK. Obsessed by MUFC, technology and gadgets, Michael also likes to indulge his passion for b2b brand strategy with travel, a handy combination for our international clients.

Remember Gerald Ratner and his infamous prawn sandwich confession (no, Roy Keane was not the first person to use crustaceans to get his point across)? Well if you've forgotten, here we go:

"Some of our earrings are cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich, but probably wouldn't last as long."

This wasn't the only derogatory comment to his audience but it set the tone and led very quickly to the demise of his high-street jewellery chain.

I think he has just been trumped by the new CEO of Nokia. Not being disrespectful to Ratners but Nokia is a slightly larger business and for many years was the dominant force in mobile communications, helping to drive the adoption of mobile phones worldwide. They have been losing market share for a while and seem to have lacked direction and with the leaking of an internal memo don't they just know it...

Now the question is, will they have time to turn this around or will this memo be the final nail in the coffin?

So, next time you are thinking of communicating some pretty damning opinions on your company or products be careful how you get the message across and who has access to it. Thinking about it, this is pretty much like any cmmunication really...

To read more about Nokia's 'Burning Platform' moment just read the link below.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops-in-brutally-honest-burnin/