SYDNEY: Hell hath no fury like a journalist scorned.
Rival metropolitan and community newspapers locked arms to boycott the official launch of Witchery's menswear line last week, following a controversial viral campaign planted in the press by its advertising agency Naked Communications.
Sun Herald, Sunday Telegraph, Wentworth Courier and community journals Alive and 9 to 5 refused invitations to the unveiling of Witchery Man in protest to the marketing hoax.
As reported on Ragtrader Online, the campaign was designed to mimic a YouTube posting and featured a young woman searching for a man who left his jacket behind in a restaurant. The video received widespread coverage across a range of media platforms including Channel 7 News, Channel 9's Today Show, Mix 106.5, Nova 969 and rival newspapers under the Fairfax Media and News Limited umbrellas.
Sun Herald reporter Caroline Marcus, who broke the story after being alerted to the video by former colleague and now Naked Communications staffer Angela Cuming, said the newspaper had been misled by the agency. Marcus said she had received a link to the YouTube page from Cumming with a note saying it would make a "cute story".
"After the story was published, [I discovered] Angela Cuming had been working for Naked Communications on the campaign and had been planning to pitch the hoax story to me since before Christmas."
Marcus said she immediately contacted Naked Communications executive Jonathan Pease for comment but he denied the company's involvement in the video.
"The bottom line for me is that I was lied to at every stage," Marcus said. "Of course as a journalist, I am always alert to the spin tactics used by marketing companies however, in my experience it is unusual, not to mention unethical, for such companies to outright lie at every opportunity."
The agency further escalated tensions by later publishing a full page advertisement in The Australian's Wish Magazine listing journalists and media outlets it had misled with its campaign. This included specific references to Marcus, Mix 106.5 presenters Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenny and Sunday Telegraph reporter Marnie O'Neill.
Sunday Telegraph deputy editor Helen McCabe said although the newspaper had suspected the campaign was a hoax and "covered it accordingly", it could have far-reaching effects for the Witchery brand.
"I don't think deliberately misleading the public is ever the right way to sell something. It could still have been a fun story - and better for Witchery - if the people behind the dubious strategy had told the truth."
Witchery did not return calls from Ragtrader before the time of press. It is understood Witchery Man will open nationally with 11 stores in March, with most of these attached to existing womenswear sites.
By Assia Benmedjdoub