Hot Cross Bunnies….

TWL’s in-box bulged with thorny emails highlighting the Somerfield/Brando fiasco.

Great to see PRs are still able to cock-up horrendously without having to get all 2.0 about it. The toe-curling embarrassment is all the worse as the poor Easter bunny concerned, Hayley Booth, was frozen in the media headlights.

A devoted disciple tried to avert Hayley’s crucifixion by racing onto The Times comment section and claiming the controversy was all a jolly clever PR jape designed to maximise coverage.

TWL is agnostic on this, unless Somerfield’s brief ran along the lines of: “Make us – and the agency – look incompetent and foolish.”

Rather than popping to the toilets for a quick Pilate-esque washing of his hands, Somerfield PR Pete Williams bravely stepped up to the plate and told the BBC: “It's a mistake. We hold up our hands to that." And then presumably kicked himself for not saying: “Hayley’s not the account lead, she's a very naughty girl.”

Funny enough the news release (any version of it) doesn’t appear on either the Somerfield or Brando websites. Nor is it one of the ‘live case studies’ on the Brando site. To be fair, it’s probably been a long day.

When the story was sent out yesterday it only created a small amount of average. Today the amount of coverage went up considerably. On the third day, we reckon it’ll rise again….