Local foodies went into hissy-tweet mode earlier this week—over free cupcakes. It’s not that anyone thinks free cupcakes are a bad thing, it’s what people were being asked to do to get one. In an ill-considered PR move, Colossal Cupcakes tweeted: “Write a 5 star yelp review (only if we deserve it) and get a free cupcake tomorrow!” Thus began a round of tweets crying foul.
“That’s terrible. 5 stars gets you a free cupcake? Earn your crowd, don’t buy it,” was one tweet aimed at the downtown cupcake shop that opened just last month. Others proclaimed the offer “BS,” one said the FCC should be alerted, a public apology was requested, and potential customers were swiftly lost. “Was excited to try your cakes, but this pandering for top reviews honestly makes me not trust your business. Sorry,” said one.
And naturally, some in the Twitter world took the opportunity to promote the competition in Lakewood—LaBella Cupcakes—saying, “they don’t bribe for reviews.”
Colossal rapidly deleted its offesnive tweet and owner Kelly Kandah Ross says the faux pas was made by a new intern/marketing person who was trying to help. “We’re not giving those away for 5-star reviews,” she says. However, Colossal is setting up Yelp deals for customers. “It’s for anybody on Yelp. We only want real customers giving reviews.”
That’s bad news for the one Yelp user who did indeed, post a 5-star review for Colossal, which only boosted their less than optimal rating to a 2.5.
Meanwhile, LaBella Cupcakes tweeted some deals too. A free half dozen cakes will go to their 200th Twitter follower and after that, they will announce which lucky-numbered follower will have a cupcake named after them. No review required.
This article appears in Apr 18-24, 2012.
A brand new cupcake shop has… a marketing intern? Really?
Umm…isn’t this how all positive Yelp reviews are gotten? It’s the shadiest review site out there.
Blame it on the newbie? Really? Don’t owners have final say on things like this?
makes me want to open up a cupcake factory!! LOL! This really cracks me up!!
Stupid business decision. The owner should take a page from athletics and go by the star player’s saying “when we win, it’s WE, when we lose, it’s ME” and just take responsibility. I mean, who trusts the marketing of their new business to the brand new marketing intern? That’s almost as dumb as letting your high school friends be in charge of your marketing, and agreeing with them that a prime-time airing of your decision where to play basketball next is a good decision.
Bottom line, this place sells the best cupcake I ever had. Me seeing a tweet is not going to make me like them any more or any less.
How much you want to bet “ilovecleveland777” is the owner, LOL
If a business conducts their affairs like this, I’m sure their products suck too. Guess where I won’t be going?
This whole marketing incident seems to be a “Colossal” fail, lol.
Owner? Ha no, just an average Joe who likes cupcakes and could care a less about twitter lol. To each his own I guess.
I love Scene accounts that are made only to comment on one story.