QUEZON, PHILIPPINES – After shunning the initial “bad publicity” that Ace Hardware Philippines received from the spoof event ‘Suntukan sa Ace Hardware’ that went viral on Facebook, the company has now embraced the unexpected attention by holding a 3-day sale on the indicated event date.
Everything started with a fictitious event created by the Facebook page, NSFW, which surprisingly caught the attention of more than 20,000 users. The event also gave birth to other similar events like Suntukan sa Sherwood, Harutan sa Starbucks Vito Cruz, etc.
It wasn’t gracefully accepted by Ace Hardware at first but after the public and some advertising experts including Leigh Reyes, President and CCO of MullenLowe Philippines, gave their two cents on how the brand should have been using the publicity to their advantage instead, Ace Hardware heed the advice and posted a teaser photo of the same date as the Suntukan sa Ace Hardware event.
And today, April 15, the date set for the fistfight, Ace Hardware Philippines held a 3-day sale and even set up a mock boxing ring in the SM City Lucena branch where people can take photos of themselves.
What do you think of this publicity stunt?
Photo courtesy of Cyrus Alvarez
