WHEN BAD NEWS IS GOOD PUBLICITY

This is a nutty story with a real lesson about how brands capitalize on unanticipated media coverage.

The New York Times Wednesday featured a story that originally broke in the Columbia Daily Spectator, the daily newspaper of Columbia University.  It seems that chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella was disappearing from campus dining rooms at an alarming rate.  Actual figures are sketchy, but the story reports that around 100 pounds of the product are consumed each day at the school.  Eyewitnesses report that students brazenly take jars of the stuff out of the dining halls, deftly hide extra portions in coffee cups and other containers and at times take enough rations out of the cafeteria to last a hungry co-ed an entire day.

When first contacted by The New York Times, Vicki Dunn, the executive director of Dining Services at Columbia refused to comment and became defensive before hanging up on the reporter.  Wow!  If there's one way to get a reporter to keep digging, hang up on them.  Ms. Dunn is an administrator, not a communications professional, but a huge opportunity was lost at that moment to turn an oddball humor story into a positive promotion for the school.

• First, Dining Services introduced Nutella as an additional option at Columbia just last week after receiving requests from students.  That's a chance to dispel common perceptions about school administrators who don't listen or act on student demands.

• Second, the administration was reported to be alarmed at the cost that Nutella was adding to their food expenditures due to unanticipated demand.  What!?  With annual tuition at Columbia reaching $61,500 with room and board last year, enterprising students blogged that the cost of 100 pounds of Nutella at Costco was a paltry sum indeed.  A quick check at Walmart reveals that 100 pounds of Nutella would cost $427.

Yesterday, Columbia seemed to have an emergency meeting and came up with an appropriate response that ran in The New York Times blog.  Finally taking the weight of the academic world off their shoulders, the official school statement said that “media attention to Nutella-gate has cut down on the amount people have been taking in recent days.”  So, the school picked up the ball they dropped and recovered slightly but not completely.

Now, the ball is in the hands of Ferrero USA,  Inc., the US manufacturer of Nutella.  This story is a rare example of unanticipated news coverage, even with it's negative undertone (stealing) becoming a huge opportunity for brand promotion.

• How about Nutella scheduling a press conference with Columbia to announce they are making up the estimated amount of product lost each week through pilferage.  
• Or make it a teaching moment to endow a chair at Columbia Law School concentrating on consumer products, popular culture and law.  
• The students themselves are a great resource for consumer feedback about their preference of Nutella over peanut butter.  
• Can a real-time chart on the Nutella website tracking Nutella consumed against timing of tests and final exams be far behind?

A single day's consumption of Nutella around the world represents over 70 million hazelnuts.
Columbia and Nutella would have to be just as nuts if they let this story die without converting it to their mutual benefit.