Ignore loyal customers at your own peril – the Shea Moisture experience

As a brand, one can’t be too careful. Some seemingly good ideas have a tendency to explode in the face leaving everyone looking sorry. Shea Moisture, the hair care brand, learnt this the hard way.

When hair care brand Shea Moisture came up with a new ad featuring two white women and one woman of colour, it had no idea that the fuse had been lit on a grenade that would explode on impact.

Angered fans took to social media on April 24th to vent their wrath accusing Shea of leaving them, the core audience, and looking to greener pastures. Such an outpouring of anger put Shea Moisturiser, which started out to cater exclusively to women of colour, on the back foot.

Old customers felt that the independent, family-owned brand had sold out in the quest to get investors. The brand responded to this in a Facebook post allaying customers’ fears. Bloggers and Shea users felt that trying to reach more people could have been done in a more sensitive manner.

The message is clear: look for new customers but do not do anything that makes old customers feel alienated. Regaining lost ground is tough business.

Source : http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-growing-brands-can-avoid-shea-moistures-mistake-of-alienating-core-fans