Strike Up the (Original) Band!

I'm kind of embarrassed at how weirdly happy I am that freecreditscore.com has finally given in to consumer pressure and brought back its original spokesband featuring cheesy-adorable French Canadian lead man Eric Violette. Sorry, but those other guys who did the spots for the past two years — a real, touring band called The American Secrets — just didn't tickle me the way these guys do.

And I'm not alone. When freecreditreport.com and freecreditcore.com parent company Experian ditched The Original Band (yup, that's the band's name), the public went nuts; fans even went so far as to start Facebook pages dedicated to voicing their annoyance.

"Our company has consistently received requests to bring back The Original Band," Ken Chaplin, senior vice president of marketing for freecreditscore.com, is quoted as saying in a PR Newswire story. "There is an incredible fan base, and it's apparent that they struck a chord with America."

And Steve Sage, creative director for The Martin Agency, said, "This is a great example of a client that listened to what customers were saying."

Nonprofit folks, do you have any examples of when your organization made a, for lack of a better word, branding move that you were forced to rethink because of the public response? How did you handle it?