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July 11, 2007Debbie Weil performs liposuction on Alliconnect
You may not have noticed the new Alliconnect Blog,. Alliconnect is a place to discuss weight loss with the creators of alli, an over-the-counter weight control medication, approved for OTC sales in the USA, made by GlaxoSmithKline. I am not quite sure how alli works.. the blog is coy on the subject, but since it discusses "oops moments" ("Good thing I was close to home so I could change my clothes!" says chief blogger Steve Burton) and "undigested fat floating in the toilet," I can only speculate that the drug blocks fat absorption. Why be coy about that? Were I seriously overweight and committed to losing weight, I am perfectly fine with learning the possible side effects. But since it's a corporate product fluff blog, we can leave that. The problem for GlaxoSmithKline is that the alliconnect blog has attracted almost no readers and only a handful of comments -- all but one of those are from Now, that would normally be a problem between GSK and Weil. But Weil has made the bad results -- the falling short of client expectations -- brutally obvious in a public way. Can things be so bad she's asking PR bloggers to "seed" comments onto the alliconnect blog? Yes. David Murray quotes this email from Weil on his blog: *** Hi everyone, This is a shameless request. I'm working with GlaxoSmithKline on the While traffic to the blog is growing, readers seem shy about leaving Comments. You can help jump start the two-way conversation! Take a peek at the If you're inspired or provoked, leave a comment on any entry. No need It really is kind of neat that a Global 100 company is doing a blog - D -- *** Weil (an IABC conference speaker, by the way) has truly wedged herself in a tight spot. I cannot believe GSK's alliconnect is going to get a sudden surge of comments from her feeble plea -- you'd have to be an obese PR blogger more than ready to shill for no pay -- and I'm certainly skeptical of her professional ethics. What I wonder is who thought this up? Weil, alone, in desperation? Or did GSK lean on her? Either way, it's another sad ethics tale for our profession. If you're inspired or provoked, leave a comment on any entry. No need OK! Who can resist! Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:49pm in Bizarre & Unexpected, Blogging for Benjamins, Corporate Communication, Marketing, Pharmaceutical Industry | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (12) March 02, 2006Short update on the Sprint Ambassador diplomatic crisis
Still no reply to my email to "Bob" (you will remember I had to assign him a name) at Sprint. I do hope he will reply in such a way that I can restore diplomatic relations with Sprint and say "ok, we're friends again!" In the meantime, the estimable Mike Sansone at Copywriting Watch makes his own suggestion to Sprint on my behalf. It's lovely, and I wish I'd thought of it. And if Sprint takes him up on it, I will sing their praises to high heaven. That's what it's about, everyone (and I mean everyone!): market ethically (don't spam), but if you do mess up, apologize! And over deliver to your victim! It's an easy thing, and we have all seen it work a thousand times. Unfortunately, we still see it too little. So, Bob at Sprint Ambassador Team. If you take up Mike's suggestion, I will choose three of my friends back in the United States, all of whom could have stepped out of the pages of The Tipping Point, and you can make them ambassadors. I'll be happy, they will (that is, if you over deliver) be happy, and you will be happy. It's win-win-win for us all! Also, I've sent an email to Lori Joseph, a senior communicator at Sprint, prominent IABC leader, and former colleague of mine on IABC's board of directors. Since she's all about good corporate communication and marketing ethics -- and knows how to get things done -- I am sure all of this will be speedily and happily resolved. Technorati: Sprint, sprint ambassador, mike sansone, Copywriting Watch, diplomatic immunity, lame pitches Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:14pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Communication, Ethics, Is Tedious in the House?, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) November 15, 2005Sony faces another class action
While still clueless, Sony has enough money to fend off lots of lawsuits. Still, it's nice to see lawyers lining up to do what they do best. Here's a snippet from Brian Krebs' post from WaPo: Sony BMG is facing yet another class-action lawsuit stemming from the controversy over its anti-piracy software, this time from a New York attorney who filed a federal case that could potentially include consumers in all 50 states. Krebs links to filings for both the California and the New York suits (PDFs).
Technorati tags: Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:56am in Business, Intellectual Property, Is Tedious in the House?, Marketing, Music | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) November 11, 2005Doctorow rips into Sony's EULA; Symantec finds Sony worm vulnerability...
Update 13 November 2005: Eric Eggertson is following this outrage pretty closely... I'd quote some of his stuff, but I would swear violently, and I don't like to do that on Sundays. Just go read. Is Sony Music winning this week's Bacon's Information Cluelessness Award? It would appear so. Cory Doctorow uses his bully BoingBoing pulpit to tear apart Sony Music's EULA. Sony's EULA is worse than their rootkit
1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all
your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA
says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer
possess the original CD.
2. You can't keep your music on any computers at work.
The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home
computer system owned by you."
3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete
all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the
country where you reside.... There's plenty more. Still considering buying Sony CDs. Then ponder this from today's Boston Globe: Computer Worm Exploits Software on Sony's CDs People who bought music CDs from Sony BMG Music Entertainment may have exposed themselves to a dangerous new computer worm. Symantec Corp.,
the leading maker of antivirus software, said the worm has infected
computers that played Sony BMG recordings. Two other antivirus firms,
BitDefender Labs and Sophos PLC, also issued warnings yesterday. The
Sony BMG disks install software that is supposed to prevent the user
from making illicit copies of the music and distributing them over the
Internet. But the anticopying software conceals itself so that the
computer user can't easily remove it. Now someone has written a
''Trojan horse" program that exploits this feature of the Sony BMG
software. The program, which is spread through spam e-mails, uses the
Sony BMG code to hide itself. Then the Trojan horse uses the Internet
to contact its creators for further instructions. Eggertson calls for a Sony boycott: It will be a cold day in hell before I buy anything from Sony. I don't
actually care if they are being scapegoated by bloggers and others.
They deserve every bit of damage to their brand that they suffer. Parmet asks: Why do companies act this way? And what makes them think that in the long run they can get away with it? To which I can add only: Any company promoting Shakira, Ricky Martin, and Destiny's Child deserves an exclusive circle of hell.
Technorati tags: Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:15am in Business, Intellectual Property, Is Tedious in the House?, Management, Marketing, Music | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (1) November 09, 2005Proof that anyone can be a copywriter if he knows his product
Friend Lisa sends this link to an expired eBay auction for a pair of DKNY Men's Leather Pants. Proof, if any were needed, that the copywriter who knows his product and desperately wants to move it is capable of great work. "You are bidding on a mistake. We all make mistakes. We date the wrong people for too long. We chew
gum with our mouths open. We say inappropriate things in front of
grandma. And we buy leather pants...." Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:52pm in Advertising, Bizarre & Amusing, Humor, Marketing | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (0) You like your experience on our airline? Blog it!
Via Fredrik Wackå comes news that Hapag Lloyd Express, a low-price airline, is giving passengers the chance to blog their experience with the airline: "Hapag-Lloyd
Express, a provider of low-cost flights that in 2004 carried 2.7 million
passengers, are using blogs as part of their customer loyalty program. Perhaps
they weren't the first in their business to realize this obvious blog use, I
don't know, but it's a good idea nevertheless. At HLX Urlaubsblogs everyone that has booked a flight can publish
photos and post to blogs. Travelling is experiencing, experiences are best
shared and blogging is sharing. Travels and blogs are a perfect match." While we have Fredrik front and center, he recently updated his European Corporate Blogs list, which is simply THE directory for corporate blogs in this part of the world. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:24pm in Communication, Marketing, Public Relations, Travel | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) When would you choose premium service over lower price?
Fellow MarCom Blog contributor Dale Wolf takes a look at the everyday tradeoff: would you rather pay for premium service, or opt for the lowest cost product? Drawing on a recent Reveries article, Wolf unsurprisingly finds buyers opting for premium service when buying complicated stuff such as airplane engines. But -- and this surprised me -- they also pay happily for premium service in everyday transactions down at the local mall. "Does this work just for complex business-to-business companies? Nope.
Customer service gets right down to the level of the grocery store. An
independent researcher discovered that the vaunted TESCO, the leading
UK supermarket, is vulnerable to a competitor's superior customer
service." I don't like surprises, especially when delivered in the blogs of my fellow PR practitioners, so I examined my own buying habits. By and large -- I opt for paying for customer service, without being entirely conscious of it. I never opt for "service" packages when buying computers, printers, or other technology -- but I seem to for almost any other purchase. Is this rational? Or profligate? Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:16pm in Management, Marketing | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) November 02, 2005Is this Corporate Cluelessness Week? Ask Amy Gahran and Tosh Bilowski
[Update: I published without proofreading, which is always a mistake. The version you see below is an edited version of the original. The message is the same.] Amy has been gently, but firmly urging Panasonic to come clean about its Tosh Bilowski character blog. Like most of us, Amy believes the character blog, in theory, can be a good thing. But, like the rest of us, she's seen no or, at best, few, examples of character blogs that work. And Tosh Bilowski isn't one of them. For me, it's mainly because Tosh isn't an "obvious" character (such as Captain Morgan); instead, he's being passed off as a real person (and a boring one, at that). But what's teeth-jarringly clueless? The snooty and short-sighted responses Gahran gets from Tosh Bilowski's "handler", Jan Crittenden Livingston. Amy noted on her own blog -- that is, in her own space, not Panasonic's -- that "Tosh" apparently wasn't accepting comments she'd posted to the blog. She pointed out that it is Panasonic's right not to publish comments, but wondered if Panasonic was "getting" the concept of conversation. In response, Jan Crittenden Livingston shows she doesn't get it .. she writes Gahran: Hi Amy, The reason we are not posting your commentary is because we do not have to.... We are hoping that it can turn into a nice site where people can come and learn
about all things Hi Def. We do not have to run it like any Blog or Website that
you have seen before, it will be run the way we choose to run it... Bad enough? Livingston uses the Tosh Bilowski GMail addy to sign the thing. Tacky or what? Some people -- me, for example -- would have joyfully skewered Panasonic. Amy patiently and wonderfully turns the episode into a set of guidelines for companies contemplating character blogging. Really fine stuff, Amy!
Technorati tags: Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:01pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Blogging, Communication, Corporate Communication, Is Tedious in the House?, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) September 28, 2005The Reason I'll Never be Rich....
... is because I never would have dreamed up the Million Dollar Homepage (sort of like I wouldn't have dreamed up Skype, either). Hat tip to Thomas Kristiansen. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:01pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Humor, Marketing | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (0) September 23, 2005Sanctimony, not Kate Moss, Source of Fashion PR Headaches
For my first post on the MarComBlog (which I talked about yesterday), I've chosen to look at why any PR damage suffered by fashion houses in the Kate Moss affair is largely self-inflicted.
Here's an excerpt. The headline takes you to the full post at the MarComBlog.
September 23rd, 2005 by Allan Jenkins Kate Moss, supermodel, mom, poster-child for the waif look is presumably giving PR folks across the fashion industry sleepless nights. If
you're following the story, Moss was recently photographed dividing
lines of cocaine in a dressing room, then enjoying a few of them
herself. I don't know for whose coin she was working, or even if she
was on the job, but her clients — department store chain Hennes &
Mauritz, and fashion houses Burberry's, Chanel, Dior and Vanderbilt —
have dropped her. She will no longer represent them, and that's a big
chunk of Moss' £7 million salary gone. At 31, Moss is no "new face", as
they say, and, anyway, the heroin chic look is out. Friend and fellow MarComBlog Contributor Neville Hobson suggests on his Nevon blog
that this presents a PR dilemma for high profile companies: what do you
do when your A-list celebrity star self-destructs in public? I
agree: the Moss affair presents H&M, Vanderbilt et al. with a PR
dilemma. But I'd go so far as to say it's largely, even mostly, one of
their own making.... Excerpt crossposted from my full post Sanctimony, Not Kate Moss, Source of Fashion PR Headaches at MarComBlog. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:03pm in Advertising, Current Affairs, Management, MarComBlog, Marketing, People of Note, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (0) September 22, 2005I've Been Invited to be a MarcomBlog Contributor: I'm Standing in Tall Cotton, Now
Robert French has done me the signal honor of asking me to become MarcomBlog's 10th contributor. Wow. MarcomBlog is based at Auburn University's Department of Communication and Journalism, and is a collaborative effort between the students there and the contributors. And Robert. The purpose: To actively involve students in conversations with
practitioners from around the world. Blogs offer a unique opportunity
for students to converse with professionals they never would have met
before. Why not harness the power of CMS to bring people together.
Think of this as part mentoring exercise by our contributors and part
incubator for future PR/Marcom professionals. Well, I am proud to take part, though not a little in awe of the company I'll be keeping: Connect PR - David Forstrom And, of course, all the students who, if I can judge from their blogs, will be a stimulating group. In short, I'm standing in the tall cotton. And shall have to learn to write intelligent things... Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:19pm in Communication, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Education, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (1) Hugh McLeod & Ben Metcalfe Take the Gloves Off and Begin Thrashing One Another
It's got drama, fighting words, studied insults, and an audience baying for blood. It's the Hugh McLeod vs. Ben Metcalfe knock-down, drag out. And it's playing simultaneously at Ben's and at Hugh's. As most of the free world probably already knows, Hugh is using his blog to promote Stormhoek Wine, just as he promotes Thomas Mahon's bespoke suits. His belief that social media can be used to launch global microbrands has many observers and -- including Desirable Roasted Coffee -- more than a few believers. Ben thinks Hugh's promotion of Stormhoek is unseemly, even distasteful. And said so, calling the wine "crappy" and Hugh's promotion of it "pimping". Hugh fired back with one of his trademark cards -- I never want to be a target of one of those -- and called Ben an apparatchnik of "socialist media". Yikes. Let the fur fly! The spat has generated about 40 comments between the two sites. And while the boys are grudgingly making nice again, the core issue remains. Is it seemly to use blogs to market products (especially using free samples)? Is marketing in keeping with the spirit of social media. I'm 100% with Hugh's principles on this: what on earth is wrong with marketing using one's status in the blogosphere? It may well backfire on Hugh one day, but I see little that is unseemly or unethical about trying it. And the other side of the argument -- that the blogosphere should be non-commercial -- is just plain silly. But opinion seems sharply divided -- and I don't think this debate will die anytime soon. The discussion continues here and here. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:03pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Blogging for Benjamins, Ethics, Food and Drink, In Defense of Elitism, Marketing | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (4) | TrackBack (1) August 29, 2005Jeff Jarvis Hears From Dell, Gives Up
Jeff Jarvis heard from Dell, yesterday, and despairs of ever teaching Dell anything. I'm about to advise a friend on buying a laptop... How can I in good conscience recommend Dell? Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:00pm in Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) August 24, 2005PRblogs.org: Free Blogs for Practitioners, Educators, and Students
Robert French, who teaches PR at Auburn University in Alabama, USA, has enough ideas for two people. His latest is PRblogs.org, a free .. I love that word .. free .. blog hosting setup for PR students, educators and practitioners. How inspired is that? After we spoke earlier today, Robert sent me some background on the idea. "It is a
free blog hosting service aimed at PR practitioners, educators and
students. Free blogs. Non-profit. Ad free. Very
niche. I love the idea, and I hope it blossoms and booms (note to IABC/ PRSA/ AAF members: take notes; your new hires are going to know all about social media, and they are going to eat old media, cold media.. and old agencies for lunch. It'll take awhile -- You haven't hit the iceberg, yet.) Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:03pm in Advertising, Blogging, Communication, Education, IABC, Marketing, Online Media, PRSA, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (1) August 16, 2005On Digital Divides: Aren't They Artefacts of Cultural Divides?
Seth Godin identified a digital divide a few months ago. Among other indicators: people who use Firefox are just not on the same side of the ditch as those who don't. You either read Doc or you don't know who he is. it’s increasingly important to understand the difference between the mass market and the micro markets that are emerging. Sometimes your audience is shopping at WalMart, other times they’re at Trash American Style hunting down that elusive Black Flag EP. But why? & how do we tell them apart? Tip of the conversational hat to Parmet. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 04:26pm in Marketing, Public Relations, Society | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (0) August 12, 2005The Ripple-Effect of Reputation: Why Dell A/S Denmark Lost A Sale (And Probably Doesn't Even Know)
I'm not a tech fetishist. Now, I hear it's very in not to be a technology fetishist, but I assure you that I am not that calculating (or trendy). It's simply that most acts that start tech fetishists trembling with delight fill me with dread. Not "root-canal" dread, but "standing in line at the property-tax office" dread. That's right, I can think of few things more tedious than buying a new laptop. So a company like Dell should have an inside track to me. I can put together my "own" system with a few clicks on line. Or call them and they'll do it. Coach me, even. And Dell Denmark loses no opportunity to let me know this. Dell A/S Denmark sends me a personalized ("Kære Hr. Coffee", which always makes me smile) snail-mail every month with great offers for SOHO consultants like me (one just came through the slot). Moreover, they send our household a glossy little catalogue every month and manage to slip a brochure or two into the biz section of our newspaper a couple of times a month. In short, they should have me by the short-and-curlies: I don't have to waste time in computer stores dealing with people who were in Pampers when I had my first email address (big plus), I save time (small plus), and, since I buy as a business, get a pretty good deal. So why did I eschew Dell Denmark? And buy my rig elsewhere? Two words: Jeff Jarvis. But I only realized this later. At no point did I say "Well, Jeff Jarvis is having trouble with Dell, so I'd better avoid them." But throughout the summer, the blogosphere that I read murmured with "Dell... problems... falling down on customer service... " Nothing you could put your finger on, except for Jarvis' posts; it was just the word on the street, the hum of the market. Dell Denmark approached me a half-dozen times over the summer, at least. At minor expense, to be sure, but it adds up. But the hum started by a guy 4000 miles away, whom I don't even know, who had a bad experience with a Dell subsidiary I'll never have to deal with, was enough to wave me off. The hum got into my subconscious. And Dell Denmark could do nothing to get back into the front of my brain. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:59am in Advertising, Blogging, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (4) July 19, 2005Evelyn Rodriquez Dispenses Sound Advice to Dot's Flowers
After a bit of vacation with visiting family, I'm returning to my post here at Desirable Roasted Coffee. I'll be catching up over the next couple of days. Just before I went silent, I read Evelyn Rodriquez's post Dot's Flowers: Lack of Ethics? How About Lack of Imagination?. Like many in the blogosphere, Evelyn was offended by Dot's Flowers payoff to bloggers like Jeff Cutler: ''No more driving
to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them,"[Cutler] wrote on his
Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and
1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal
touch." - Jeff Cutler's quote, "For a fee, some blogs boost firms", Boston Globe, June 26, 2005 (thanks Tom for the tip!) Nice recommendation any company would certainly cherish. This particular referral was made by blogger Jeff Cutler on his blog April 8th.
Jeff's never actually ordered anything from Dot's. And he was paid $5
by Dot's ad agency USWeb for the blog mention, which he neglects to
disclose. Evelyn is surprised at the banality of it all: I'm too jaded to be appalled by lack of ethics, but I am amazed by the lack of imagination.
But Evelyn goes on to demonstrate why she "gets it" (as if that's ever been in doubt): What are some alternatives? There's plenty. Here's an off-the-cuff one for starters. Flowers are given during major life events like weddings and funerals
and as symbolic gestures that signify 'I'm thinking of you.' They're
given on special heart-felt occasions to people you're close to or
would like to be closer to: you give them to your date at your prom,
your partner of twenty-five years, your Mom on her birthday, your
cousin on their graduation from law school. These are usually
emotion-filled moments ripe with compelling story potential circling
the biggies in people's lives. I'm not clear on the campaign's budget (let's say it was 2000 X $5 =
$10000). You could announce a story contest spread over the next six to
twelve months. Award $50 gift certificate for up to 200 bloggers on
their best 'flower moment' stories. Real stories from real people. The
certificate gives bloggers a chance to establish a real relationship with Dot's Flowers. The stories can encompass all sorts of universal "I'm thinking of you" moments. There's more and it's all good. The point, of course, is that companies lame themselves by trying to use blogs and bloggers without a modicum of insight and imagination. Thanks Evelyn! Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:30pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee, Ethics, Management, Marketing | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) June 02, 2005What Does an Invitation to Make Money Look Like?
I suppose it's just my day to encounter scams. Larry Borsato brings dreadful news of an outfit that encourages home-based ecommerce aspirants to rip off RSS feeds, then sells them the software to do it.... "When you see little buttons like these ...
... it means that the owners of the content are inviting you to use what they've written." Yes, it's an invitation. But subject to this Creative Commons license. You lose, scammer. (This way to the Egress!). Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:07am in Advertising, Marketing, RSS, Scams | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (0) Companies Subvert Search Results to Squelch Criticism
I hate MLM (multi-level marketing) outfits, believing their circle of Hell is properly next door to that being built for spammers. So it's no surprise for me to learn Quixtar (memo to Central Naming: next time, come up with something less Scientologist/Raelian/Heaven's Gatey), an MLM based on the Amway pyramid scam, is using every unethical SEO (search enging optimization) trick in the book to marginalize critics, according to the Online Journalism Review. Here's an excerpt from the article "Eric Janssen is the driving force behind Quixtar Blog and became interested
in the company when his wife became an independent business owner (IBO). Janssen
is also a longtime journalist and online creative manager for the Memphis
Commercial Appeal's Web site, so
when he was pitched to join Quixtar, he was curious why no one would directly
answer his questions. He found that unbiased online information on Quixtar was
scarce -- with most sites being strongly for or against the company's practices
as a multi-level marketing organization for energy drinks and cosmetics.
Janssen refused to join, and his wife was pressured to quit unless he shut
his blog down. Later, Janssen started online forums on his site so people on
both sides could discuss Quixtar, and he started to cultivate inside sources. He
uncovered scoop after scoop, including extensive information on Quixtar's Web
Initiative, including "adoration blogs," "character assassination blogs" and
even fake news outlets such as eSource-News.com. Janssen connected the
dots to Margaret S. Ross, one of the writers on eSource-News.com who specializes
in "Web Reputation" and was hired to help lead Quixtar's Web Initiative.
"I don't have any problem with search engine optimization, and businesses
have every right to do it," Janssen told me. "But my complaint is that this is
something that you don't want everybody to know about, because you know that
it's deceitful, and it's not about providing value for people. It's not about
providing a great information resource that will be the #1 site on the Web. It's
about flooding the Web with crap, and in that sewage, [they're] going to bury
everyone else. That's my main concern. The implications go across to other
businesses like Scientology." Tip of the hat to Online Journalism Review. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:36am in Advertising, Marketing, Scams | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) April 19, 2005You'd Be Naive To Send Me That Gadget
I've been grumbling to myself about Google's gmail lately, because it seemed the spam filter was starting to glitch. Every day or so, sometimes 2-3 times in a day, a press release would creep through from someone I don't know. Real odd ones, too, because they weren't touting stuff to make my sex life better or to let me grab some dead dictator's money. Nope, always some CEO to make a speech at a conference, or so-and-so was going to have booth at some convention. Today's mail brought an offer to try out a gadget. No strings, just let them know where to send it (they seem to believe I live in the US, but no matter). And it dawned on me.... PR people actually exist who either a) believe Desirable Roasted Coffee is widely influential, b) are so down on their luck that they figure "what the hey", c) are interns who have dutifully and carefully found every PR blogger in existence, or d) all of the above. Rather touching! And pretty naive. I don't want to be a killjoy, but I'm the last person you want to send press releases to. As a carrier of PR, I'm pretty much immune to it. I don't like most new gadgets until they are out of style. By and large, I don't like the news that does reach me. Here's an exception though: If you want me to read a book and review it, I will do so happily & honestly. Send books, not gadgets. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:06pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee, Gadgets & Toys, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (4) | TrackBack (0) Allan Jenkins Declares Blogging Agnosticism
Blog, flog, smog.... what church did I stumble into? Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:21pm in Bloggers, Blogging, Communication, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Marketing, Online Media, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) March 31, 2005Herring & Waffleman Muscle Into Huh?'s Turf
It had to happen. Huh?, the "world's most dynamic e-business consultancy" is being muscled by Herring-Waffleman "a truly great company, with a truly lengthy mission statement." Now I remember why I never liked being a client. Via B.L. Ochman and Steve Rubel. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:53pm in Marketing, Public Relations, Writing I Enjoy | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) March 16, 2005Re-branding America: Marketing Gurus Debate
The Boston Globe's Clay Risen writes about the difficulties of "re-branding America" in an age when America gets, at best, mixed reviews from the world's "consumers." Risen describes the trials of Charlotte Beers in her efforts to brand America in the Middle East, an effort that fell flat. He goes on to note: "Yet Beers's failure, far from discrediting the idea of ''branding'' a
country, stands out as an exception. The last few years have seen an
explosion of ''nation-branding,'' shorthand for coordinated government
efforts to manage a country's image, whether to improve tourism,
investment, or even foreign relations. Firms specializing in
nation-branding have sprouted up around the world. In collaboration
with a coterie of such experts, Tony Blair recently established a
Public Diplomacy Strategy Board... And
in November, Oman signed a contract with the
marketing firm Landor Associates to develop and sell ''Brand Oman.'' "What sets true nation-branding apart from Beers's efforts, according to
its advocates, is its focus on brand management rather than just brand
promotion. Beers failed, says Simon Anholt, a British marketing expert
and one of the world's leading proponents of nation-branding, because
she tried to change people's minds without changing the ''product.''
''What she and her team were doing resulted, and I'm tempted to use the
word degenerated, far too quickly into communications,'' says Anholt..." Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:47am in Advertising, Communication, Marketing, Politics, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) March 14, 2005Information Week asks 5 Executives About Blogging; Publishes Dishwater
Information Week asked 5 managers how their own blogs are good for their business and reaped a quick article known in the trade as a "round-up". Unfortunately, the insights are about as interesting as dishwater. Phil Windley, former CIO of the State of Utah, leads the show with a gold-medal statement that captures what citizen journalism is about: "I blog to be part of a community of people whom I respect; I want
to understand their thinking, and I want them to understand mine. I blog to be
part of the conversation. I blog to remember. I blog to refine my thinking. I
blog because I don't think I really understand something until I write about
it." Unfortunately, it's straight downhill from there: Alan Meckler, CEO, Jupitermedia.corp: "Updated four times a week, the blog steers clear of the personal. Meckler says
he has thought about writing more personal passages, but "I've gotten a lot of
criticism in the past. Why open myself up?" "Asked just how much he has opened himself up in the blog, Meckler recounts an
entry that mentioned his mother-in-law." Michael Hyatt, CEO, Thomas Nielsen, Inc: "Hyatt is an infrequent poster, going as long as a month without publishing.
"That drives people crazy." he says. "But I'll do it daily at times." Hyatt
estimates he spends three hours a week, usually on the weekends, working on his
personal blog." What useless fluff. Information Week had a chance (and has the clout) to examine CEO blogs and blogging, but opted for a puff piece that reveals little about how to get it right or wrong. At the end, Information Week notes that GM CEO Bob Lutz blogs on behalf of General Motors. Would that they had interviewed him! Here's a CEO that reacts to comments, deftly praises competitors, then returns to why his product is pretty good -- in one short post. That's quality H-2-O -- no dishwater here! Posted by Allan Jenkins at 12:24pm in Bloggers, Blogging, Communication, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) December 15, 2004Homemade Branding: Good or Evil?
Via Shel Holtz, I learn of George Master's homegrown efforts on behalf of iPod. Shel, who once was Barbie's
PR agent, points out that not all companies are going to be equally
pleased by homegrown marketing efforts -- especially when they spread
faster than the company's own marketing efforts. Oooh.. that's
an itchy problem. Do I, as a brand manager, opt for tight "command and
control" over my brand? Or am I damned glad the word is getting around
for free, even though I might not control the meme? Apple is doing just fine with iPod, thank you, so they don't need any help (I don't know if they want it). But other groups should be begging for help. Earlier I reffed the (excellent) efforts of Oliver Willis
and crew to push the Democratic Party into branding itself by inviting
the public to create Democratic ads. Lord knows if any institution
could use a tighter brand, it's the world's oldest political party. I
think this slippery eel is going to get away from brand managers.
Micropublishing (blogs and wikis) already let consumers write about
products and companies in a way that brand managers could only dream
about (or quake about) five years ago. Taking it one step further to
homemade ads, either supportive or in parody, is a short next step. Memo to marketing: what's our policy going to be? Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:20am in Advertising, Marketing, Online Media | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) | |||||||||||
