DiGiorno tweeted using the #whyIstayed hashtag without understanding its sensitive context about domestic violence survivors. This led to widespread criticism of the brand. DiGiorno then privately apologized to complaining users and stopped tweeting for three weeks. This contained the controversy but stalled its growth. Later, DiGiorno regained momentum with clever tweets and its engagement and growth returned to previous levels, showing that a brand can recover from social media gaffes.

1. Reach
January 1 to December 1
Crisis Management 101
How did DiGiorno bounce back from a cheesy tweet?
DiGiorno:
Do social gaffes impact the brand long-term?
By Katie Meyer

2. On September 9, 2014, DiGiorno— the reheat-at-
home pizza brand — was on a roll. In the days
beforehand, DiGiorno had live-tweeted a Colts vs
Broncos football game with saucy comments using
trending hashtags. Retweets poured in. Life was
good.
Context – DiGiorno on Twitter

3. DiGiorno went too far by co-opting #whyIstayed—
belittling women and trivializing a sensitive
conversation.
Domestic violence survivors used the trending topic
to speak out against the weak victim stereotype,
explain warning signs of abuse, and discuss their
personal experiences with how abusers trap their
targets.
Context – DiGiorno on Twitter

4. Twitter users quickly decided that mocking domestic violence victims was way
over the line. Judgement of the brand was swift, widespread, and brutal. DiGiorno
later claimed its social media manager was not aware of #whyIstayed’s meaning. To
use their own hashtag, #digiorNOYOUDIDINT.
Context – DiGiorno on Twitter

5. Containment strategy flattens growth
Crowdbabble’s content analysis tool shows individualized apologies tweeted to each
user who complained about DiGiorno’s appropriation of the hashtag. After two days of
writing apologies and general grovelling, DiGiorno stopped tweeting completely for three
weeks. After an initial spike of activity as users favourited and retweeted the crusty tweet,
engagement flatlined.

6. After the Tweet?
DiGiorno’s decision to stop all Twitter activity contained the
controversy, as users did not have any new DiGiorno’s tweets
to hijack with angry comments. It came at a price: follower
growth stalled, while competitors like Freschetta,
RedBaron, PizzaPizza, and Pizza Hut continued to climb.

7. It’s not delivery, it’s a slow decline in engagement over time
In its first tweets after three weeks of silence, responses were back to normal and the
#whyIstayed debacle wasn’t mentioned. Using Crowdbabble’s engagement report, we looked at
activity on Twitter in the two months before and after the #whyIstayed tweet.
The silence, apparently, gave DiGiorno a clean start.

8. Turning heat back on allows brand to rise again
A few months later, more than
1,800 retweets and 2,500
favourites helped @DiGiorno
gain momentum over the
winter and experience another
viral hit. When the brand joked
about Iggy Azaelia during the
Grammys, it garnered more than
18,000 retweets and almost
30,000 favourites. Azaelia
attacked Papa John’s delivery
during her speech and DiGiorno
pounced

9. Return to classic recipe boosts performance
A year later, DiGiorno is better than ever. In the month after the
scandal, the brand received almost no mentions on Twitter.

10. Return to classic recipe boosts performance
This year, almost 4% of engagement with DiGiorno on Twitter is comprised of mentions and each tweet receives an
average of 77.8 retweets or favourites. Though overall favourites and retweets were high last year — as users
scrambled to capture the offensive tweet — now DiGiorno’s ability to capture its followers’ attention is stable and
consistently high. Almost a third of the messages the brand sends receive between 10 and 49 retweets, with 4%
going viral at more than 100, as shown below.

11.  Do not impulsively post content on social campaign hashtags without
understanding the context, do not attempt to hijack major social issues in the
Twitter discourse
 If your brand posted something very offensive, taking the time to tweet to each
follower and user who cited your mistake may help your PR
 Twitter engagement and growth may be affected for a bit but if your rebound
strategy is appropriate, engagement and growth rebound to previous
benchmarks
 You can still win back fans with clever tweets and marketing, in fact many people
might have already forgotten and forgiven what happened
Lessons