When media and consumer criticism comes up, how should startups face

Recently, the "Shanghai Subway Girls in public strip" video after the premiere of Tencent Video, quickly reproduced by other video sites, and received more than 10 million clicks. In this video, two young women in the subway car to change clothes, and to provoke peer scold.

Talk about this video is on Sina Weibo's Hot search list. Several media outlets in Shanghai have also reported mixed reports on the incident.

The Liberation Daily published an article calling it an insult to women. According to surging news reports, the video is the Thai Flute Laundry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. made a promotional film, the video appeared in all the people are the masses of actors, including by netizens called "just aunt" middle-aged woman and expression of pompous "grab mirror brother."

The Thai flute NET was founded in June 2013. This is the world's first online laundry website, to provide 24 children free door-to-door access to clothing, clothing services, can be cleaned types including clothing, shoes, bags, household items and luxury washing and other types. Its operating mode is similar to Jingdong, Amazon and other E-commerce companies, have their own logistics team: the user through 400 telephone or Thai flute nets under a single, the dispatch of the Thai Flute network will be on time to pick up the goods, retrieve the clothes first sent to the nearest warehouse, and then be sent to the laundry factory;

The Thai flute Network is currently operating in the Shanghai area. As of this July, the Thai flute Network has more than 30 courier, with 10 warehouses. In the Thai flute online, the cumulative list of users has more than 20,000. The age of the user is from 25-45 years old, the residential community is mainly in the middle-leaning community and near the subway. Female users accounted for 60% of the goods, mainly clothing, shoes and bags.

Like the rapid development of the O2O (online to offline offline) business, the company's business from a year ago only more than 100 per month, in April and May this year rapidly developed into more than 10,000 single per month.

Today, the Thai Flute network issued a statement of apology to the media. In the statement, the network admitted that all the passengers and strip paper that appeared in the video were hired mass actors and professional models, and that the video was designed to reflect the Internet laundry experience of the Thai Flute network.

The statement reads as follows:

Sorry, we were wrong!

Recently, we realized that we have to shoot a piece of advertising demo in the community has aroused a strong response, caused a lot of questioning, but also to the community has a certain negative impact, we now publish the facts are as follows:

We filmed this video in order to promote the company's "with the wash" of the washing service purposes, the video appeared in all passengers and strippers, are employed by the mass actors and professional models. The choice of the subway such an extreme scene, was intended to exaggerate the way we "with the wash" of the washing service, the incident and the subway operators have nothing to do. Following the rapid spread of the video and the heated debate in the community, we realized that we were ignoring the social responsibility of being a corporate citizen and were deeply apologetic about the negative impact on society.

We sincerely express the following apologies:

1, we have in the first time to the rail public security, business administration and other departments to admit mistakes and deeply regret. We guarantee that we will not commit such mistakes in the future. I am sorry.

2, we here to the people of the country to recognize the error and express regret: I'm sorry to cause you trouble. Advertising creativity should not be to harm the bottom line of social morality, damage the atmosphere of the price, as a young start-up companies, we act too radical, lack of due social responsibility, we are committed to no longer commit such mistakes.

3, we thank the vast number of news media workers in the event to play a role in the supervision of public opinion, it is precisely because of your timely and correct guidance of the public opinion, a good social atmosphere can be retained: I'm sorry to trouble you. Society has become more beautiful because of your supervision, and we implore you to continue to monitor us in the future, and we will not make such mistakes again.

With our peers in the entrepreneurial road colleagues, we build a statement: Creative risk, entrepreneurial need to be cautious, resolute can not make such mistakes.

Shanghai is a city of rivers and seas, full of tolerance and support for entrepreneurship and innovation. The road of entrepreneurship is to walk the past has not traversed the road, full of a lot of unknown, we must remember this lesson, will continue to maintain the enthusiasm of innovation, and strive to do a better Thai flute. To this end we have opened a special monitoring feedback email: of@24tidy.com, welcome the masses and media supervision and advice.

Sorry, we were wrong!

Thai flute Washing

2014-9-27

O2O is considered to be a market with great potential for development. The competition in this industry is equally fierce. Only in the online laundry industry, the start-up company has the Thai Flute network, Shanghai Kun Tuo Network Technology Development Co., Ltd. launched the dry cleaners, Shanghai lazy to Good Information Technology Co., Ltd. operating lazy home and so on. Traditional laundry service companies did not give up the market, Beijing Rongchang Technology Services Co., Ltd. launched in 2013 online laundry service "Rongchang?" e-Bag washing ", Zhejiang and AU Investment Group Co., Ltd. 's dry cleaning chain brand and Union laundry, in 2013 also launched the" Lazy cat washing "online laundry service; The domestic fashion laundry chain has also invested in the operation of the online laundry platform "e Wash network."

It is not easy for startups to win consumers ' attention in the double attack of similar startups and traditional enterprises. How to distance from the marketing and competitors to find the point of attention, but will not damage the brand image, affect the long-term development of enterprises? How to find the balance is not easy for both the US and Chinese start-ups.

But the open Internet has always welcomed new things. For a start-up, a less successful marketing is just a small stumbling stone on the road to pioneering business. In the face of criticism from consumers and the media, it may be that, like the Apple company in charge of Cook, it is possible to give quick feedback after the introduction of difficult iOS8.