06 Nov Is #CowboysUK an epic fail or a social media masterstroke?
On Sunday, the NFL heads to London for the third and final time this season. Following the September clash between the Dolphins and the Raiders, and the October meeting between the Falcons and the Lions, the Dallas Cowboys will play the Jacksonville Jaguars.
At the beginning of the week, the Cowboys unveiled the Twitter hashtag they would be using for the trip – #CowboysUK. This has caused quite a lot of mirth in the online community, as it can quite easily be read another way (Just in case you haven’t got it yet, it’s ‘Cowboys suck’).
Plenty of people have been quick to make fun of the Cowboys social media fail, especially fans of rival teams Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles.
Who in the Cowboys marketing department came up with #CowboysUK? CowboySuk? Really – no one saw this?
— Sir Guy of Gisbourne (@SirGuyGisbourne) November 5, 2014
I think whoever does social media for the Cowboys is actually an Eagles fan! #CowboysUK #trending
— Hunter Ellis (@HunterEllisKEYE) November 5, 2014
Wait, Dallas actually created #CowboySUK hashtag for London game?! This is a hilarious gift. Thank you, Dallas. pic.twitter.com/nsljpPPSoC
— Keith Jones (@KeithJones) November 5, 2014
But is this really such a cut-and-dried case of a social media fail? It’s hard to imagine this hashtag getting through the entire Cowboys social media and marketing department without anyone picking up on the potential backlash.
Furthermore, I’m willing to bet that thanks to the amount of attention this hashtag has received over the past few days, far more people are aware of the Cowboys playing in London than they would have been otherwise.
Whoever runs social media over at @DallasCowboys, may want to rethink their hashtag for this week’s game: #cowboysuk http://t.co/h5kpabR7yc
— Patrick Pho (@dmbosstone) November 5, 2014
How in All that is holy did the Dallas Cowboys marketing NOT see this!?!? #CowboysUK #CowboysNation @dallascowboys
— Stephanie Mills (@mills0210) November 5, 2014
Online commentators have been joking about there being a vacancy in the Cowboys’ social media team following this campaign, but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hail this as a genius piece of marketing. Instead of getting fired, perhaps someone just earned a raise!
