Good and Bad PR: Zepto, YesMadam Creates Year’s Worst Marketing Stunt

Given the rut we find ourselves in, we'll have to rename this column to BadPR; there's precious little Good in sight. Please wash your hands and rinse your eyes after reading this week's edition; it comes with a strong toxicity warning.

Bad PR: It's Zepto Again!

According to Moneycontrol, the CHRO of Zepto is serving his notice period, merely 11 months into the role. In the interim, "Aadit Palicha (co-founder and CEO) is handling HR operations and is involved with the hiring and other related tasks." Read that again.

Screech halt. Rewind sound.

Last week, Zepto got stuck in the toxic work culture quicksand. Co-founder and all-round media darling Aadit Palicha's penchant for 2 am calls added kerosene to the work-life balance debate. Let's go over the 101s again:

• Don't respond to anonymous Reddit posts
• Don't tweet about work-life balance with malice toward your competitors
• Don't assume leadership of the business function whose existence you secretly despise

The mind wanders, thinking about the Zepto investors who are shifting nervously in their armchairs, reminiscing about the audacity of youth.

Bad PR: Poonawalla Fincorp 

Seriously, guys, is there some secret toxic workplace competition memo we missed? 

Per the Economic Times, the former CTO of Poonawalla Fincorp ($3 billion+ market cap) resigned earlier this week, citing "harassment" from the company's chief human resource officer. Effective December 3rd, the resignation was officially filed with SEBI on September 6th.

The immediate fallout of the resignation public announcement on Monday led to a 3% drop in share price per MSN. The share price later saw an upward tick once the new CTO was announced Wednesday.

Bad PR: YesMadam should have said No

I've never understood zero-sugar drinks—zero or lite versions of the originals. They lack the bold flavour of the original, and before you even open the bottle, you know you've bought into a downgrade.

So, if you're going to venture into Poonam Pandey territory, just pause, fire your campaign agency and don't move. The fast-growing player in the at-home salon services space 'leaked' an email written to employees who complained about work stress. The solution? Fire those employees. Cue the social media uproar. Twenty-four hours later, they 'revealed' their stunt was the marketing launch of their new corporate services portfolio, which got us digging. If there's one thing you read today, read the founder CEO profile. It is wild.

I've referenced Poonam Pandey two weeks in a row (repeat: I'm not obsessed)! She'll still win the starring role award for BadPR of the Year, but we still have two more weeks to go. We are in the final lap of brand Idiocracy, folks. Buckle up.

Shoeb is the chief innovation officer at Ideosphere Consulting. He loves helping brands and business leaders articulate their value better. If you want to point out examples of good and bad PR message him on LinkedIn