Crazy Cruise Reminds Marketers to Pay Attention to the Web

So, have you seen this clip of Tom Cruise embracing the doctrines of Scientology? If you didn’t already think he was nuts (are there any of you left?), you will now.

The video, which initially appeared on Defamer.com, has already had 663,534 views since yesterday, and that's just on Gawker.

This video is yet another testament to how the internet can have a massive impact on a brand (in this case; Tom Cruise®, a bonafide celebrity brand - no matter how ill-managed) in a matter of days, sometimes hours. Sure, Cruise’s eccentricities are already well-documented, but this latest scandal was never meant to be publicized and is sure to damage his already-weak celebrity image.

Web-weary marketers beware – brands are no longer built or dismantled over decades. Things can change in an instant, and marketers need to be aware of the power of the online market. This may not be news to those of us so tuned-in as to be reading a blog for an online customer satisfaction provider, but some marketers continue to work in the stone age – an age where they can hide from their markets. These marketers need a wake up call. Point 30 from the notorious “Cluetrain Manifesto”:

Brand loyalty is the corporate version of going steady, but the breakup is inevitable—and coming fast. Because they are networked, smart markets are able to renegotiate relationships with blinding speed.

Doesn’t look like the Cruise camp, or at least his Public Relations firm, has woken up to the realities of the internet.