A storm in an expresso machine
I have been watching the Harris + Hoole story brew from afar since the new year. A few of the thoughts that I had about the whole debacle:
- It isn’t independent versus large corporate, it’s about authenticity as a product – one of the first things that struck me was that consumers felt duped. They weren’t dealing with a small business but with a larger one – Tesco. By comparison when I used to DJ through the late 80s onwards I saw how independent dance record labels were formed and often bought out or got distribution and publishing deals from the majors. Over time the majors learned how to form their own independent looking labels to tap into the do it yourself vibe of the dance music community. But there was little to no outrage about this process. Over the past few years authentic experiences and artifacts have risen enormously in importance
- It isn’t about independent versus large corporate, it’s about class – a cursory glance at the discussions seemed break down into middle class outrage and indifference from everyone else
- Tax has become a bigger issue and affects smaller business – Whilst Harris + Hoole have less than a dozen shops currently open, the fact that they have their headquarters in the more tax efficient Ireland seems to have attracted determined detractors on Twitter and the brand’s Facebook page. Tax avoidance has moved from being an emotive subject for large successful businesses to much smaller start-ups. This is a trend that politicians can’t afford not to take notice of
- Surprising lack of social media engagement – the best analogy I can think of regarding Harris + Hoole is the way Innocent Smoothies handled a product tie-in with McDonald’s Restaurants. The company engaged consumers about this directly on the blog, listened and addressed consumer concerns. By comparison Harris + Hoole uses social channels (Facebook and Twitter) to socialise content rather than engaging with audiences. They don’t have a blog on their website and instead post a scanned letter on their Facebook page and Twitter feed. In fact, it was Tesco who made a better use of social media and try and address the sentiment surrounding their share of the business
