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Ad Agency Carat steals Man’s Facebook ID for client

January 23, 2010

This is bad, really bad. The man’s name in question is “Harman Bajwa” — Remember his name is literally Harman.

He was happy with his facebook URL, http://facebook.com/harman … until one day Ad Agency Carat sends this e-mail to him:

From: Tyler Bahl
To: Harman Bajwa
Sent: Fri, January 22, 2010 11:25:21 AM
Subject: Harman

Hi Harman,

Thanks for accepting my friend request on Facebook.

I’m the emerging media strategist at Carat in Boston and I work on the Harman International account. We’re launching our first initiative in partnership with the GRAMMYS on Monday. Harman International is looking to obtain the vanity url facebook.com/harman for their Facebook fan page.

We are currently working with Facebook to reclaim (http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=896#/help.php?page=899) the username, but I wanted to explore opportunities to work with you to acquire the name. In the past, we have offered product in exchange for social domain names. One case in mind was for the new movie Avatar , we were able to give promotional items to the owner of twitter.com/avtr for Coke Zero.

Do you have time to connect today to discuss this opportunity in more detail?

Best,

-tb

Of course Harman said no. That’s his name, he’s not giving it up. He’s not giving up his name for a Diet Coke … It’s his freaking name! Then Ad Agency Carat contacts Facebook, next thing you know, Harman get’s this e-mail from Facebook.

Please Read This!
Warning

The username you selected was removed for violating Facebook’s policies. A Facebook username should have a clear connection to one’s identity. In addition, impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited. If you see other people with usernames that do not accurately represent their real names, it is only because they have not yet been removed for misuse.

To select a new username, please visit the following link:

www.facebook.com/username

Thanks for your understanding,

The Facebook Team

Huh? So Harman is violating Facebooks terms for using Harman as his Facebook ID? That’s hot. We completely hope that Carat’s Harman campaign fails. This is just wrong on so many levels. Great Advertising Campaign Carat … you guys are freaking amazing… the lack of social media skills coming from your agency never ceases to amaze us.

And Harman International spent money with your ad agency for social media? Carat should be paying them in damages to their name.

Complete Garbage.. I don’t know how you guys are in business…. seriously you completely lack in social media understanding… stealing someone’s name right off the bat isn’t the right way to go for it.. and bribing him with a Diet Coke isn’t the right way to go about it. In fact so far your entire social media campaign isn’t right.

You guys should just do print or something… disconnect the internet to your location.. clearly you don’t know how to use it. Thank you TechCrunch for finding this.

EDIT: After some extreme use of social media, it appears that Carat and Facebook have relented

Written by TheFounder · Filed Under Advertising Agency News 


Comments

  • http://www.tribbleagency.com/?p=6679 Carat and Facebook surrender to Tech Crunch and Tribble

    [...] Harman’s name is back to it’s rightful owner! That’s right people, on the earlier reported today story about Carat stealing Harman’s facebook id, it appears that Carat relented under media [...]

  • http://liesdamnedliesstatistics.com/2010/01/if-you-are-going-to-claim-your-clients-social-media-id-dont-do-it-like-this.html If you are going to claim your client’s social media ID, don’t do it like this

    [...] Agency Carat (via @thefounder), wanted to take back the Facebook URL for Harman International (the speakers and headphones [...]

  • Emily

    Facebook has stated in the past to agencies that they will default to giving the name to a brand if the brand has legal ownership of it - because Facebook prioritizes their ad dollars over their users.

  • TheFounder

    Emily, without it's users, facebook is worthless.

  • http://www.tugsearch.co.uk/blog/2010/01/25/would-you-change-your-name-for-a-diet-coke-hmm/ Would you change your name for a Diet Coke?! Hmm…. | Search Engine Marketing Blog | Tug

    [...] Happily it appears Harman’s name is back to it’s rightful owner as Carat relented under media pressure. Tribble cover the story in all its glory with this post. [...]

  • HrolfK

    Who on earth uses facebook anymore?

  • http://twitter.com/sciamachy Sciamachy

    Why don't they just use http://facebook.com/harman-international since that's the name of the company?

  • kastillon

    Are you sure you are not victim of a hoax ?
    Cause if you go to http://www.facebook.com/harman , nothing in tour story seems to be true.

  • TheFounder

    @Sciamachy perhaps you didn't read the follow up article…

    http://www.tribbleagency.com/?p=6679

    Facebook and Carat relented under media pressure and returned his name…. but for a full day facebook.com/harman was taken from the rightful owner.

  • http://twitter.com/sciamachy Sciamachy

    @TheFounder - huh, wha? Oh - you replied to the wrong comment :-)
    I retweeted the follow-up story 5 mins after @glinner did.

  • TheFounder

    I'm an idiot!! :) I replied to the wrong comment :)

  • Steve San Fran

    Just saw this story today. Based on my experience marketing my clients on Facebook, I fear you have sensationalized this story and are incorrectly crucifying this Mr Bahl

    As anyone who has actual experience with marketing programs on Facebook would know, it is standard practice for Facebook to work on behalf of brands to secure vanity urls from consumers if they feel there is a trademark infringement. This prevents individuals from “squatting” on urls in hopes to receive monetary compensation (similar to days when people grabbed brand website urls). However, it is also standard practice for Facebook to evaluate the request from the brand/advertiser, determine if there is merit in the claim and then act accordingly. Many similar requests from my clients have been turned down by Facebook after this evaluation.

    In my estimation and experience, I feel like mr bahl followed correct protocol on behalf of his client. If Facebook did their job, the request should have been turned down. Thus, the subsequent APOLOGY by Facebook. I don't think a speaker company has the ad dollars to influence Facebook to do anything. So your take on the story either stems from an unfortunate lack of understanding of the current system or a overt attempt to sensationalize a non-story to increase your reader base no matter who gets caught in your wake. Nice job.

  • TheFounder

    It was a two prong strategy, Filing a trademark complaint to Facebook stating that Harman Bajwa owns /harman and bribing him with a diet coke…. perfectly legit in your business right? LOL.

  • andrewatlanta

    I agree that Mr. Harman should have kept the name and there was no legit claim. No argument there. Although we could go back on forth on whether your diet coke analogy is accurate :). But I wonder. did you reach out to Tyler Bahl to get an understanding of what happened? Did anyone? I hope so. because what really bothers me about this story is the publishing of his name. This is a non-public figure who's integrity is being attacked in social channels (and for something that I STILL maintain is a Facebook blunder). I feel for him because I am one who will always use a pseudonym like “andrewatlanta” (or “TheFounder”) because like most people, I am not made of Teflon. My “name” is something that I hope to protect and i realize that it is something that can so easily and so callously be damaged by a simple blog post and tweet. Is that legit?

  • http://www.tribbleagency.com/?p=6705 Carat Ad Agency Partner in Liquidation

    [...] is a rough time for advertising agencies, and in particular Carat appears to be attracting some pretty negative stuff. From stealing Facebook Id’s to watching their partners (or former partners) go into [...]

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