Every employee is an ambassador of the brand s/he works for … good, bad or ugly.
A recently-fired employee of Taco Bell, perhaps believing that one photo on his mobile phone of his licking a stack of empty taco shells wasn’t attention-getting enough, decided to post the picture on his Facebook page and Reddit, leading to a viral headache for his former fast food employer.
However, Taco Bell isn’t the only franchise that has had to deal with employees who express their lack of respect for the brand and the customers they serve. Burger King and Domino’s Pizza both have had similar PR disasters in the recent past. Burger King had employees post a picture of just their shoes standing on top of two open containers of lettuce, while two Domino’s employees posted a video to showcase their high velocity sneezes adding extra spice to the calzones.
The fast food industry and their franchisees need to establish the importance of brand image and new media manners during orientation. Presentation coaching is a valuable investment for companies that consistently hire new and often young people who don’t know how to publicly present themselves. Companies need to educate employees that they are the brand!
When employees get READY FOR MEDIA, they also learn that they should listen to radio station, WII-FM:What’s In It For Me! How you have represented this brand will make all the difference in getting your next job, promotion or raise. And the next and the next!