A great piece in Marketing Week today about the dangers of big organisations handing over brand management to crowd sourcing and the public 
If you haven't heard, all the fuss is about naming a new very expensive scientific research vessel. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) thought it would be great to launch a campaign to get the public to name their ship. Knowing what the UK population are like when it comes to humour and online irony, are they really surprised with the results?
The poll is now closed leaving the board with an awkward decision to either go with the public vote or face the anticipated social media and reputation backlash. Here are the results:
So the new £200m ship will be called Boaty McBoatface 
Outstanding. Also liked Usain Boat 
You can read more about the story and other examples of crowdsourced brand disasters in Mark Ritsons piece: Boaty McBoatface proves the public would rather humiliate your brand than engage with it
Hmm I wonder what the board will do? Suspect a PR driven climbdown...
