JPMorgan Chase & Co intended to use Twitter today for thought leadership purposes.
Using the hashtag #AskJPM, interested parties were invited to send questions in advance of the session set for Thursday at 1 p.m. in New York.
$JPM VC Jimmy Lee is taking over @JPMorgan on 11/14 at 1pm ET. Tweet Qs using #AskJPM & learn more about him here: http://t.co/eTDT8pJeq8
— J.P. Morgan (@jpmorgan) November 13, 2013
The bank was going to make one of its star bankers available for a live Q&A, but when negative Tweets starting rolling in like waves, the marketing team at the bank shut the event down.
Tomorrow's Q&A is cancelled. Bad Idea. Back to the drawing board.
— J.P. Morgan (@jpmorgan) November 14, 2013
This episode nicely illustrates the difference between what the people who work for the bank or its agencies think and feel about the brand, compared to what people on the street think and feel.
Given that a flare up like this is a rich educational experience for the brand, I would advise The House of Morgan to keep their scheduled Twitter chat and to carry on. It’s the difficult path for sure, but choosing to not engage sends the wrong message, making a bad situation worse.
In the face of a Tweet storm, you can run and hide or you can show some resolve, patience and balance.
