Wednesday 9 March 2011

Would the real Galen Weston please stand up


When searching for a PC commercial online, I came across a Galen Weston page on Facebook. When I first looked at the page, I thought it was a new marketing tool he was using - there are commercials posted, he answers customer questions, and generally promotes the Loblaws and PC brands. However, when I checked the information section, it said:
 "Sadly, this is not THE Galen Weston... merely a fan page"
 I have seen many celebrity fan pages for actors and musicians, but for a businessman? That surprised me. I suppose Galen has recently gained more of a media presence with the TV commercials, and from some of the wall posts (e.g. Elaine Guay writes "I LOVE YOU GALEN!) it does appear that he has a fan following. But could an unofficial page harm the Galen Weston brand and the other brands he is associated with?

I think it definitely could. Although the positive comments provide free promotions, there are also a lot of negative comments. Many people seem to think this IS the real Galen Weston, and are voicing their complaints about products, their employment, etc. Whoever is running this fan page is not informing them that it is not the real Galen's page; instead they are continuing the persona by occasionally responding. The lack of adequate attention to consumer issues may encourage negative brand associations.

I wonder what the actual Galen as well as the Weston and Loblaw companies think of this issue. The page has just over 1400 likes, so it may not have registered as a big enough threat on their radars. However, it is still a public page that was one of the first results when I googled "Galen Weston", so they should consider how many views it might be getting.

I also noticed there is a fake Galen Weston Twitter account. It is more obviously fake however, as the author seems to be poking fun at Galen, as his bio reads:
"Canadian billionaire; award winning sweater collection"
It's interesting that people are interested enough in Galen Weston's brand to make fake accounts. I wonder if Galen will decide to create his own Facebook page or Twitter account in the future. Clearly people want to interact with him!

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