Oshawa – KISSed, Not Missed!

In early June, I wrote a blog post about Social Media Assessments and how the Rock Band KISS was using social media to route their North American tour (KISS Alive 35).  Since KISS just announced their tour dates, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit this topic briefly.

In April, KISS ran a contest asking fans to vote for their hometown to be included in the band’s upcoming tour, with the top vote getter getting a concert in their town. Oshawa Canada topped the list, but when the list of the “KISS Alive 35″ concert dates was released this week, Oshawa was not on the list.

Asked why Oshawa was not included,  KISS responded that the town was skipped for “logistical reasons“, and a rep added that they would still “get something special”.  Of course, major media coverage and angry fans ensued, which forced KISS to announce that they are in fact playing in Oshawa on October 7th – the release date for the new KISS album “Sonic Boom”.

Gene Simmons has voiced his anger at the media since the “surprise”  KISS was leaked prematurely.

My opinion is that the band should have stated the concert was going to happen in Oshawa and then revealed that it would be a live premiere of the new album.   You can’t dangle a carrot like they did and then not appear to follow through on it.  That’s the quickest way to ruin your reputation – not that the members of KISS really need to worry about that.  It might not work for your brand however.

What do you think?   Is the media to blame?  Was the backlash appropriate considering the band did use social media to promote the tour and then appeared to not honor the outcome?