Great PR As Damage Control: Authors Learning from Big Guys' Boo Boos

It seems Abercrombie and Fitch mmmm . . . borrowed the name "Hollister" from a California town for one of its lines of clothing.

Seems after they did, they wouldn't even put an outlet in the town to help the Hollister folk with their economy (the economy being another story entirely!).

Seems a local woman decided to use her own town's name on a small line of her own jeans.

Seems A&F didn't like that. Now it seems that the whole town is up in arms. They want to reclaim their name and they're publicizing the injustice done them everywhere!

Seems to me that A&F made a whole string of public relations booboos here. Seems to me that A&F should backtrack. Say, "I'm sorry." Hire the Hollister woman to design jeans for them. When the economy does an upturn, put in an outlet and use that magnanimous gesture to glean all kinds of counter publicity. Ahem!

Authors can learn from the mistakes made by the big guys. Keep a pulse on when your name is being praised and/or taken in vain (use Alerts features from Google and others). Have a considered plan before catastrophe stikes. Admit your wrong-doing (if any) immediately and aplogize. Fight back immediately when necessary but don't blame others.

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Information on this PR snafu came from the LA Times, an article written for the business section by Hugo Martin.
CHJ

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.