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On Dec. 27, 2011, N-Control almost lost everything from a customer-service-turned-PR disaster. Learn how they saved the brand in seven days. 
"Anytime a PR guy finds himself emailing 'Please make it stop' to one of the most influential people on the Internet, you can bet that a career-ending social-media meltdown is well under way. This week the perpetrator/victim is Paul Christoforo, president of Ocean Marketing, whose business name has quickly become a Web meme synonymous with pompous jackassery." 
Chiullan is the guy who has taken over PR for N-Control, the Miami-based company that created a previously not-very-well-known video-game controller accessory called the Avenger Controller.
And his first—and pretty much primary—order of business? To publicly divorce his new client from its old PR guy, a contractor named Paul Christoforo. He did that quite actively in both his Twitter stream and a press release."
Awesome interview with David Kotkin, inventor of the Avenger controller.
"After a lifetime of thinking he wasn't smart, he was honored to finally be respected for his torrential intellect. One day, a teacher approached him with an unconventional problem that would change the direction of his life: create something that would help a student with a severe hand disability play video games...
"'Then when I started coming out with The Avenger, [my students] told me that this is amazing. And I gave out samples, and I couldn't get them back. They'd say they lost them,' Kotkin says...
"Now, he has to fight against an even stronger current [than his life-long battle with dibilitating dyslexia]– divorcing his company from Paul Christoforo, a former contractor, and CEO of Ocean Marketing. Christoforo gained notoriety through a chain of nightmarish customer service e-mails published on Penny-Arcade. E-mails that threaten to erode N-Control's reputation, along with David Kotkin's dreams for his company." 
Takeaways and lessons learned.
"It’s a solid response, in my opinion, and acknowledges the three Oxford-commaed achievements that N-Control have to fulfil as priority: distance themselves from this event, control the fallout, and ship the product. The product has to become the story again, and the only way to do that is to get it into as many hands as possible as quickly as possible." 
Excellent overview of the ordeal from start to finish, with references. |
Where it all began...
"I got an incredible email today from a Penny Arcade reader. Dave shared with me an email chain between him and Ocean Marketing (the folks behind the Avenger controller) Trust me when I tell you that this is one wild ride. I’m serious, Mr. Toad would look at this ride and just give a slow clap while shaking his head. I have tried to arrange this as best I can in chronological order."
"In a matter of hours, Ocean Marketing was trending across the Web, with Christoforo’s Twitter account being assaulted by angry and disgusted tweets, even going so far as to grab the attention of famous actors and car insurance companies. Christoforo’s YouTube account was overrun with dislikes and hundreds of comments mocking him in his own unique version of the English language. A parody reenactment had already been filmed, edited, and posted. Kotaku, in a rare moment of actual journalism, had seemingly uncovered evidence of Christoforo using anabolic steroids. Internet sleuths were also quick to uncover a domestic violence case against Christoforo. And on and on it went." 
Christoforo's insane response to his PR nightmare.
"But Christoforo also sees some potential positives in all the negative attention he's been getting. His Twitter account, which has now changed names twice because he was 'sick of the tweets and stuff coming in,' has been getting a lot of new followers from the controversy, he noted, a situation that may be beneficial down the line." Another N-Control customer's account of poor dealings with Christoforo, months prior to the December 2011 fallout.
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