In the aftermath of the NBA playoffs, one would imagine that the most talked about rivalry was between the Miami Heat and the victorious San Antonio Spurs! However, when a broken air conditioning system resulted in Game #1 taking place during 90-plus degree temperatures, it caused Basketball star Lebron James’ leg to cramp. That is when an unexpected battle between well-known energy drink rivals Gatorade and Powerade emerged!
After Mr. James had to be carried off the court, tweeters all over the country who were watching the game saw an opportunity to mock Gatorade, which is the NBA’s official drink. But Gatorade had a lot to say about the situation too. Tweeters for the company made it very clear that they did not sponsor Lebron James and assured followers that drinking Gatorade would have certainly prevented Lebron’s cramp. Comments like, “The person cramping wasn’t our client. Our athletes can take the heat” and “We’ve been hydrating all day. We never cramp” were made on Twitter by Gatorade in response to fans’ accusations. And other Gatorade remarks made fun of Mr. James, the Powerade endorser.
Cooler heads at Gatorade later apologized claiming they “got caught up in the heat of the battle” and stated,“ as a longtime partner of the Miami Heat, we support the entire team.”
READY FOR MEDIA is not here to take sides, but to emphasize the power of social media. Our question is, who is tweeting for your company? In many cases, the wrong employees have posted the wrong things creating many problems for their companies. Social media is a big part of business today. Used incorrectly, it can cause severe damage to a reputation. Therefore, our Ready advice to companies is to spend some time and resources to provide employees with social media training for the proper etiquette of live coverage tweeting.