Is Gala Sausage Roll Cancelled?

Advertising and branding used to be focused only on traditional media - print and broadcast. The advent and consequent popularity of the digital media meant that companies now had a much more direct way to connect with their consumers from anywhere in the world.

A brand is more than a logo, color or font and is so much more than a cover photo. Inclusive of the attributes of being a proper brand is how one makes customers feel through strategic and authentic communication.

In today’s world, social media has grown to become an important tool for advertisement and visibility. It provides businesses (small, medium and large) a level playing field to sell their brands. 

Smart brands are able to stay top of mind by identifying with current trends, holidays and more to create and maintain conversations with their target audience. They have the opportunity to reply to queries and solve customer care challenges, disseminate news, share brand offerings right there on social media and so much more. It provides the platform for users to feel the pulse of a brand.

Valentine’s Day has come and gone but among all the interesting things that happened on that day, the Gala Sausage Roll goof is up there on the regret ladder. Popular fizzy drink, LaCasera tweeted something cute and tried to shoot their shot at Gala sausage roll - which for any frequent road user, is arguably the greatest paring of all time and would have been a wonderful opportunity for Gala Sausage Roll to shine and possibly trend on Twitter for all the right reasons. Gala however flopped in their response and one is not sure what became of the admin handling the account after that major goof.

In an age where cancel culture is the punishment for erring individuals or businesses on social, it is wise to be tactful in social media communications especially for businesses and public figures. 

Let us compare Gala's reply to the Valentine’s Day exchange between popular rivals, BMW and Mercedes Benz... You can agree that there is a huge difference. Mercedes and BMW have given us some of the best rival content on their social media platform and even with adverts but they also know when to keep it sweet, like on the global day of love. 

Do you think that Gala, a complimentary product to LaCasera should have utilised this opportunity better? Is the social media reply a reflection of the Gala Sausage roll company itself? Side bar: The reply to LaCasera was Gala's first tweet since January 2nd 2020.

What should Gala have done better? If you were the admin for the brand, handling the social media account, how would you have replied LaCasera? Do share your thoughts in the comments.

This article was written for GLG Communications.