Who could’ve possibly predicted the PwC blunder that resulted in the wrong winner being announced at this year’s Oscars.
The relationship between PwC and Academy Awards has been 83 years in the making … 83 years! That’s a significant investment in time and energy! Pity then the poor partner backstage at the Oscars who – distracted by Twitter – handed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
In an instant PwC destroyed decades of trust and demonstrated deplorable attention to detail with the whole world watching – not good for a brand normally associatiated with quality control!
Despite the relationship seeming to endure the cock up, the trust has definitely gone. The Academy has now announced new protocols which basically mean the ‘overseers’ will now themselves be rigorously overseen! What’s the point?!
The moral of this story is... if you're going to invest in sponsoring an event and raising your profile, make sure you maximise the value of the investment... the devil is in the detail!