Monday, May 8, 2017

Camping World chief tweeting about Gander Mountain’s future

Gander Mountain isn’t going out of business, despite its liquidation banners—and its new leader is using social media to get the word out.

The outdoors-focused retail chain filed for bankruptcy in March. In May, Camping World bought the company—but not its inventory. Under the deal, Gander Mountain is having a liquidation sale, while Camping World’s chief executive, who is also host of CNBC’s “The Profit,” works to figure out how many locations he can keep open.

After several news outlets published that the retail chain was closing its doors, the businessman took to Twitter to dispel rumors and correct false stories:

In the video, Lemonis says his communication method is “a bit unorthodox” but that he wants to correct false news reports and keep consumers and journalists updated on business decisions:

I have continued to post individual updates on what stores on what stores are staying and what stores are going, and I will continue to do that. So, you’ll have to read through my stream to find that. Look, I know this way of communicating is a bit unorthodox, and more people are sort of taken aback by it, but I continue to see news reports from news organizations in cities where Gander Mountains exist that all stores are closing, and they are not. All stores are liquidating, and the inventory in there is going to go away, but the stores aren’t closing. My goal is to open at least 70.

The information Lemonis shares in his live stream was condensed into an official press release and published Monday morning. It reads, in part:

On May 5, 2017, CWI, Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Camping World, entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Agreement”) with Gander Mountain. As part of the Agreement, Camping World obtained the right to designate any real estate leases for assignment to Camping World or other third parties and initially plans to operate stores that it believes have a clear path to profitability. Marcus Lemonis, Chairman and CEO of Camping World, stated “after reviewing the stores in more detail since our successel bid in the bankruptcy process, our current goal is operate seventy or more, locations subject to, among other things, our ability to negotiate lease terms with landlords on terms acceptable to us and approval of the Bankruptcy Court. The current liquidation of the existing Gander Mountain inventory will allow us to start with a clean slate of what we consider the appropriate mix and level of inventory, including the addition of Camping World and Overton’s offerings where appropriate.”

Lemonis shared the release on Twitter and on Facebook:

However, it’s the work he’s doing to get out the information—along with his candor and transparency in his communications—that is getting far more notice than Camping World’s official press release.

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Lemonis invited laid-off Gander Mountain employees to interview for jobs with Camping World:

He is keeping consumers—and journalists—up to date on which stores are staying open by tweeting pictures of a list of locations, along with a request to retweet:

Lemonis has been tweeting at news outlets to correct false information; he also has agreed to do interviews with journalists:

He is answering consumers’ questions and concerns directly, via quoted tweets that are accompanied by his responses:

PR pros can take notes from Lemonis’ approach and use it for crisis communications, especially to dispel fake news.

Gini Dietrich, founder and chief executive of Arment Dietrich, wrote:

In many organizations, any significant website release can take days, if not weeks. It’s important for you to create a process for deploying a crisis response microsite as quickly as possible. It should be deployed in a way that anyone on the crisis communications team can quickly and easily update content as the situation evolves.

To keep fake news from going viral, you must be able to quickly debunk it.

For many communicators, that means employing social platforms to get your messages out—even if it’s “unorthodox.”

What do you think about Lemonis’ communications tactics, PR Daily readers?

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