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Is Social Media Powerful? Just Ask Simon Cowell

By Brendan B. Read,
Senior Contributing Editor

Facebook (News - Alert) recently flexed its muscle by denying the top U.K. Christmas song title to the winner of Simon Cowell’s “X-Factor” reality TV show. Instead, a campaign conducted through the social media giant to thwart that effort led, eventually, to a 17-year-old neo-punk political hit taking the crown.

Lyndsey Parker’s “Reality Rocks” blog, carried on Yahoo, reported that the song, a cover of Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb,” which was sung by “X Factor” champion Joe McElderry had been beaten out by a 1992 Rage Against the Machine track, “Killing In The Name”: 450,000 as compared to 500,000 copies. RATM fan Jon Morter had instigated the drive in what the blog reported was “a protest effort to stop Simon Cowell’s empire from dominating the music industry – since Simon is the main X Factor judge, and “X Factor” winner McElderry just signed to Simon’s SyCo record label.

“Eventually some big-name rockers – including the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Sir Paul McCartney, and Rage’s own Tom
Morello – pledged their support to the campaign, the goal of which was to make “Killing In The Name” Britain’s Christmas
number one, instead of the expected ‘X Factor’ single,” says the blog. “[And] for the first time in five years, an ‘X Factor’ champion has not snagged Britain’s coveted Christmas number one spot, thanks to Morter’s Facebook campaign.”

What makes the Facebook-driven move all the more interesting, and fun, is that the RATM’s song’s bent and language does not exactly offer the warm and cuddly singalong ambiance that one expects for Christmas, or from Simon Cowell’s pop music machine. That is unless one wants a tune to recite while connecting the wires in an attempt to become a more successful heir to the famed English icon, Guy Fawkes with the warmth coming from the ensuing firestorm.

McElderry could not have said the first part of the preceding paragraph better. Reports the blog: “Joe recently told British newspaper ‘The Sun’ that he hated the RATM song, saying: “They can’t be serious! I had no idea what it sounded like. It’s dreadful and I hate it. How could anyone enjoy this? Can you imagine the grandmas hearing this over Christmas lunch?”

Not that there has been any hard feelings from Cowell. Says the blog: “As for Simon Cowell’s reaction, he is probably taking the news in stride, judging by a recent conversation he had with campaigner Morter. Morter told the British music paper NME that Simon personally phoned him the night before the chart numbers were released, to wish him well in this bizarre sales battle. “Simon was very sweet and it was lovely to talk to him,” said Morter. “We had a good chat about music in general and just wished each other good luck. I’ve got total respect for him. That was a really nice thing to do.”

Cowell, as an extremely savvy businessperson, was more likely tipping the hat to the new order. Intentional or not, Joe Morter had won a signature battle against traditional brand-driven top-down consumers-are-to-be-manipulated-like-lab-rats marketing, with social media. The social channel enabled the “rats”: consumers like him who had decided to act and found enough likeminded people. Yet what happened with “X Factor” is occurring at a smaller but much more widespread scale though. Witness the reviews on TripAdvisor, which helps consumers make travel-buying decisions such as one hotel over another based on comments and rankings.

Cowell, as an extremely savvy
businessperson, was more likely
tipping the hat to the new order.
Intentional or not, Joe Morter had won
a signature battle against traditional
brand driven top-down consumersare-
to-be-manipulated-like-lab rats
marketing with social media.

Social media puts enterprises on notice that this is an interactive marketplace, one where paying attention to and following
up on what the buyers are saying is no longer an option. That means ensuring they have high-quality products and services at the right price. Only when these conditions are satisfied should they look at and invest in a growing array of tools that enable firms to listen, assess and respond to the markets.

Cowell’s firm will live to fight another day. By paying attention to customers via social media, so may others.

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