No Limit Founder Nick Powills Shares How Brands Can React Smartly To Current Events

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump provided a feast of QSR and pizza to the national college playoff winners, the Clemson University Tigers. Since the meal, the President has received some backlash for providing what is typically known as a value-focused meal.

QSRWeb.com shared some tips on how restaurant brands can best capitalize on this type of politically charged event, without getting blasted by their loyal customers and social media following. No Limit Agency founder & CEO Nick Powills shared best practices with QSRWeb.

When it comes to how a brand can gauge the best opportunity to jump on a media waive like the Clemson White House incident, Powills said, "Often times it is really first to market. This is with any real-time event - Super Bowl lights going out, White House fast food, elections, blunders, etc. It's rare that a brand does something not for the PR value. Thus, if you are not the first to market, the opportunity to go viral is limited."

Powills also added, "There isn't one clear pathway to determining if it is an actionable event - meaning, it is a case-by-case basis. Typically, anything political should be avoided because you can't please everyone with a response, unless, of course, your brand's voice is already set up in that conversation."

If brands do choose to jump in, fans will not be quiet in letting the brand know they screwed up. Powills told QSRWeb, "If you upset your crowd, they are more than 'okay' letting you know. Politics, race, religion should all be avoided - anything that could upset valuable customers."