Jack in the Box and Social Media

Jack in the Box, a fast food chain, has recently undergone a change in corporate image. After its mascot/CEO/anti-Ronald McDonald character was hit by a bus during the Super Bowl, the company set up a website: hangintherejack.com, essentially opening the corporate brand up to the social networking sphere. LATimes reporter, Dan Neil discusses the social media efforts in his recent article, Jack in the Box feeds the social media beast. Neil says, the six-week "Hang in There Jack" campaign (Secret Weapon Marketing, Santa Monica) was a remarkable document: a 360-degree social media event that mocked even as it exploited the power of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Along the way it leveraged irony to the breaking point with "viral" cellphone and faux-paparazzi videos, ring tones and texting. Among the crowd-sourced content were 27 get-well videos from fans, some quite brilliant. Neil also discusses the distasterious efforts fo Skittles when it decided to use Twitter to promote the brand. So is social networking tricky for big corporations or is it a case by case basis? We'd like to hear your thoughts.