Someone needs to send Best Buy an historic bit of writing known as 1 Samuel 17.
That’s the chapter in the Old Testament that relates the story of David and Goliath. For those who may not have heard (spoiler alert!), wee David cuts off giant Goliath’s head thanks to his faith in God and one amazing demonstration of accurate sling-shotting.
In modern parlance, that’s known as a big “W” for the underdog.
Speaking of modern times, just recently Best Buy (aka “Goliath,” at least for this post’s purposes) made the foolish decision to overreact to a rival company’s commercial parodying Best Buy’s notoriously, ahem, subpar technology know-how.
Whereupon, Best Buy’s crack legal team (or maybe it’s “cracked”?) dashed off a cease-and-desist letter that was sure to spur on far more coverage of the parody–and awareness of that competitor, NewEgg.com,(aka David in this example).
Oh, that reminds me: check out the 30-second commercial here:
Adam Singer, in his Future Buzz blog, offers a great take on the blunder.
As I related to Singer, someone should send a C & D letter to Best Buy’s legal counsel. Is there a Department of Common Sense over there? The David versus Goliath analogy is so obvious, as is the inanity of Best Buy’s response.
I can’t help but chuckle, too, at Best Buy’s repeated use of “slovenly” in the C & D letter to describe the blue-shirted employee. That word belongs somewhere in the early-1970s, methinks.
As Singer articulates so well at Future Buzz, the episode clearly reflects Best Buy’s lack of social media awareness–how else to explain its clunky attempt to shush a company with a hugely loyal and tech-savvy following?
Related Posts:
David vs. Goliath, From Gladwell’s Book to Cultivating Main Street PR Prospects
Stop Talking About All Your Cool Gizmos
