This is floating around Facebook at the moment and I thought I'd add it to my blog for safekeeping. It's lovely, and is a wonderful example of good, old fashioned customer service.
Update! They renamed the bread. Bloody brilliant. Probably did more for the company than any campaign ever could have.
There's a cupcake/bakery in Copenhagen called Agnes Cupcakes. They acutally made the cupcakes for my wedding in July. They're good cupcakes (the icing needs more butter, but that's another story for another time).
They've been making headlines recently, but not for their baking skills.
The employment contract there features a confidentiality clause, with a fine of 250,000 kroner. That's a lot of money (about £29,000). Labour market researcher, Henning Jorgensen, says, "I've never seen anything like it. It is the first example I've seen on a slave contract in Denmark. And it is just a slave contract, because it breaks all laws."
Agnes' lawyer, Catrine Søndergaard Byrne, says, "I realise that it is a lot of money, but with Agnes, you get a special, better product than if you go to the local baker. It's a unique product, and if the business secrets are passed on, it can have a huge detrimental effect on business. Therefore, we believe that we can argue for a very severe penalty."
Well, I can understand that they don't want their secret to get out, but where exactly is this secret? If it's so secret surely it's only known to the head bakers, or management, and therefore up to them who finds out? Or is it just printed on a bit of A4 round the back of the shop?
Faced with all this, the owner, Kristian Vangsgaard, tried to demonstrate that his employees are good employees, hardworking and trusted. "A third or more of the girls are 'wannabe reality TV stars'. They think that working at Agnes Cupcakes is just cool, and looks good. Some of them don't want to do anything, just standing around chatting and not picking up the phone."
Oh, wait, what? You employed layabouts who don't give a shit? Kristian, Kristian, Kristian... Communicate much? We have to give them a little credit though, I mean, they do pay their wages on time...
An update has appeared on their Facebook page (horrifically translated by Bing).
Too easy? I doubt people will stop buying their cupcakes - we're such a fickle bunch, but one thing's for sure, Kristian needs a crash course in communication. If you're so worried about your secret, why not employ people who actually want to work? Who you can trust? They might cost a little extra, but hey, how much is your secret worth?
Quotes taken from Politiken.
Update
Apparently Kristian admits that he 'speaks before he thinks', and does apologise to his employees. However, I'm still surprised to see that in this day and age, someone who runs a well-known and well-liked business would speak before thinking - especially to a journalist. Although it seems now that he's other other problems - old cupcakes. Is this just a pissed off employee, or is it fact? Either way, I'm glad I'm not Kristian right now.
A long time ago I opened a packet of KiMs crisps I had bought on the train only to find about 10 crisps in my bag. One was most unamused. Surely this must be a mistake I thought? It got under my skin, and as soon as I was home I jumped on Facebook to see if KiMs had a page. They didn't, which I thought was pretty weird, but what I did find was the page called 'Vi er pisse trætte af at Kims chips aldrig er fyldt helt op!', which means 'Us who are sick and tried of KiMs crisps never being full!'. So I joined, and posted my photo. I was definitely not the only one who felt a bit ripped off.
I tried emailing KiMs to say that this surely must be a mistake, but received no answer. Not surprisingly. I'd like to just point out that only once have I emailed a company due to a product I was not satisfied with, and received a box full as a sorry (I was 14 and my Sherbert Dip Dab didn't have a lolly in it).
A few months later (approximately) KiMs suddenly arrived on Facebook with a big competition. Their fanbase grew quickly (not surprisingly given that they're the Walkers of Denmark), but not as quickly as the other page. Currently, the official page has 25,026 fans, and the 'unofficial' page 28,946. People entered the competition, and somebody won, but the other KiMs group was never addressed.
KiMs then launched the 'Kald det Jørgen' ('Call it Jørgen' - Jørgen is the character used in all the advertisements) campaign, where people were encouraged to rename other products 'Jørgen'. Jørgenneven got his own Facebook page, which is now dedicated to finding Denmark's largest crisp after the original campaign ran into understandable trouble.
Last week, a post popped up in my feed, which read, "Alle sammen, gå ind på "KiMs Chips" og skriv "Fyld poserne op" på deres væg, og tag denne gruppe i opslaget :)" (Everyone, go on to KiMs Chips and write 'fill up the bags' on their wall, and tage this group in your post :)). I decided to check it out to see how many would actually do this. So far, about...well, there's been a lot. Sure, not thousands, but enough to totally swamp the wall (click for full-size).
As I scrolled down, I came across this photo from the newspaper Søndsagsavisen (Sunday's Paper). The headline reads 'You're paying for air.'
It is now painfully obvious that the KiMs Facebook page was made for the competition - their activity has been pretty much zero since the competition was won (save for a couple of focus group member pleas), making the dormant page a perfect location for spam. And they got it. Although this isn't just random spam, it's frustrated posts from consumers who demand an answer - or indeed - any response.
So far, KiMs have been silent.
Why create a new page for Jørgen instead of using the KiMs page? Why leave that page dead? Why the silence in regards to both the newspaper article and the spam from the 'unofficial' group?
It might not be the largest social media crisis, but it's one that should be addressed. Come on KiMs! How hard can it be? Perhaps there's a reason for all the air that we don't know about? Perhaps there's a weight limit? A crisp limit? There must be some reason behind all the air, because surely, surely you're not just doing it on purpose...
Update
It's been brought to my attention that one user received an answer from KiMs after a couple of emails. The user then posted the answer on the wall;
"Tak for din henvendelse. Hvor meget vores chips fylder i poserne afhænger af hvor meget tørstof der er i kartoflerne, som igen er afhængigt af hvor på sæsonen vi er. Når der er meget tørstof i kartoflerne er massefylden større, hvorfor der er færre chips i posen for at ramme den angivne gramvægt. Desuden skal der være lidt vægt i posen for at beskytte dem under transport."
("Thank you for your inquiry. How much our chips fills the bags depends on how much dry matter there is in the potatoes, which in turn depends on the season we are in. When it's very dry, the potatoes have a larger density, so fewer crisps are needed to hit the specified gram weight. Furthermore, there must be some weight in the bag to protect them during transport.")
