Final weigh in, here, because I wrote so much about it as it was developing… with such hope and enthusiasm…

First of all, I read the entire Really Goode website from top to bottom and back again, before I even wrote one single word about that Really Goode job. I wanted to completely understand what I was reading, before I even began to write a single word.

It was a brilliant marketing concept, and I bought into it.

I remember the first time I heard about this voting thing happening… I thought, “What’s that all about?” It wasn’t anywhere in the rules, but then I didn’t pay much attention to this new development after my initial, “What?” I even voted for one person I didn’t think had a prayer for winning, but hey… Cast a vote, I thought. I love an underdog, so it was appropriate for me to cast one vote, and I did. This twist didn’t seem very noxious. I voted and then went back to my daily living.

The road from hearing about it to knowing that the top 50 were chosen was filled with curiosity by a lot of people. And then, Wham… we all went to a Really Goode Job interview and a boxing match broke out.

I can’t blame the Really Goode candidate who won the most votes, but didn’t place in the Really Goode top 50, for wondering what the heck just happened. His hopes were enhanced by being Really Goode at using social media and garnering those votes. He was the best, but then got lost in the corporate decision making process. Remember, this was a job for getting the most visibility and being Really Goode at using social media. If all things were fair, he should have at least placed in the top 50; if for no other reason than Really Goode PR.

I don’t blame all the fans who watched this job unfold before their very eyes for feeling duped, because with the voting there was an implied involvement. Even if  they had read the Website from top to bottom, as I did, and never once found anything about this twist of voting, there was an implication that somehow the general public would be part of the choosing process.

The idea for having people vote for his or her top candidate was definitely a Really Goode idea gone awry, without some forethought of “what if?” Whomever made that decision clearly doesn’t understand this social media phenomenon. Discussing this with my friend Ann Rea, who’s a marketing guru, Ann said to me, “Clearly they [Really Goode staff] don’t know the culture or rules of the conversational economy.”

Clearly…

This case study is now going down in history as an example of what not to do. We can count on that.

I feel great empathy for the person who’s going to get this Really Goode (?) job. I wouldn’t want to be in his/her shoes.

Why? Because all the hopes and dreams for this job have just become so mundane, Really.

I’d like to say that the book deal I envisioned may still be possible, but honestly it’s now so tarnished by the naivete of whomever made that fatal decision to rally more support for this Really Goode promotion, that I believe that book deal is gone… Unless of course, someone wants to write a tell-all of where this decision went south in terms of how to plan and execute a Really Goode social media promotion, the do’s and don’t. But, honestly, this would be only one example of what not to do with social media marketing, so who wants that book?

I would love to still say that I can’t wait to make this person my new BFF, as I had earlier written, since I’m only six miles away from Healdsburg. It would have been a fascinating story to follow, but – alas – the job’s been reduced to just one more person in the wine business learning the ropes… the hard way, just like I had to…

There’s no jet propelled way to stardom with this Really Goode job, just a PR mess to clean up after… A very difficult way to start a Really Goode job, I must say…. And, there’s the yin and yang of it, sooner rather than later.