Last Gasp?

I got very excited last night when on my way to a dance class I came across the GASP store with a big closing down sale splashed across it.  I quickly tweeted and texted out the news. I had followed the GASP saga closely, here was two of my favourite things combining, fashion and social media.

Last Gasp

Some further trawling through the seedy world of the GASP saga seems to show that this is the "outlet" store and is the one closing, the conventional store further along Chapel Street is still in existance. Although bloggers are reporting sales across all GASP stores so perhaps they are hurting a little more then they want to let on.
I think most of Australia is well across #gaspfail  Where a customer complained and the unconventional response provoked a war with. If for some reason you have been out of the country, living under a rock or really not caring, you can read both the complaint email and the response here.

Following the saga there was a debate raging about whether or not it was staged ( I didn't think so) and if it was a good thing for the brand ( I still dont think so).  Although I considered it bad PR, I didn't think it would be terminal despite social cursaders baying for blood, Facebook spouting We Hate GASP fan pages and the term gaspfail entering general use.

So what went wrong
Firstly - going out on a limb here, there is actually nothing wrong with GASPs branding and brand values, if they think that is the right niche for them to play in then good luck to them.   Given the state of Australian retailing in general I think it is very brave but a quick review of Vogue forum and other fashion blogs has GASP dishing out this kind of behaviour for quite some time so perhaps it is working for them.
How they chose to portray that brand via an email complaint is where it went badly for them and it is easy to see how quickly it can get out of hand.  Even resulting in "Chris" the sales assistant at the heart of the saga fleeing the GASP shop and leaving it unattended due to the attention his and management emails were gairnering.

GASP could have done one of three things in response to the email that would have been on brand.
1. Ignore it: If they truly didnt care for the customer and did not value the complaint then it would have been completely on brand to dismiss it

2. Provide a well draftedresponse that still conveyed the required tone without being inflamatory.

3. Respond with a phone call, you can be as snooty as you like in a phone call, the thing about emails is they are evidence and they can go around the world really really quickly.

Managing a brand like GASP would be hard work, it would be a fine line to walk between having the right attitude and not alienating yourself from 99.9% of the world.

In ethics class at university many years ago we are taught, do not say or do anything that you would be embarrassed to see on the front page of a newspaper. Nothing holds more true today when it is just so easy for someone to put you on the front page of a newspaper, or a website or a blog or even your own hashtag.
Unfortunately GASP underestimate its audience, as a women there are few things more vulnerable than going dress shopping, especially for high end special occassion dresses.

The emotion of a special occassion and high expectations combine with the sad fact that when we go dress shopping we have to deal with every blemish, every extra chocolate or beer we have had, it is not alway a positive experience at the best of times. We have all been there and nothing will bring out the claws faster than negativity at such a vulnerable moment.

Their message and course of action was not thought out:

Starting with GASP's claim that Kim Kardasian and Katy Perry wear the GASP brand, What they actually do is wear a line of clothing stocked by them and it is unlikely they have ever set foot in a GASP store - Full Story Here.

They were deleting negative comments from their facebook page, smart maybe since it fueled the ire of the irate as they chose other methods, blogs, twitter and mainstream media to get their message across, but so great was the volume they eventually had to close the page altogether, which drew more critisism.

Why I think this wasn't a stunt.
They didn't have a twitter feed set up, if this was a carefully orchastrated stunt then you would expect them to be geared and up ready to respond, even if with more negativity.

The staff involved personal facebook profiles were still public which meant they were targets for the flamethrowers as well, Now I have loved my jobs in the past but I would not put myself out there in that fashion for any company.

Then there is this found by StewArtMedia which seems to prove GASP management were posting positive comments about themselves on blogs - ouch now they just look silly.  If it was an orchestrated attempt at a stunt, a SMM professional would have ensured such amateurish actions would not have occurred.
No attempt was made to physically protect "Chris" the protagonist in all of this.

In Summary
How GASP goes from here remains to be seen, they claim they are experiencing amazing sales, commentators say their stores are empty. In twelve months time I think the true ramifications will be clearer, GASPs actions might have made them more popular with thier chosen target market, whether there is enough of them to sustain the company remains to be seen.

It is actually refreshing in these days of PR stunts to see a genuniely stupid blunder and witness the collective power of social media, and will be a case study for SMM students in the years to come.