The Andy Young/Wal-Mart/Edelman PR fiasco proves that big PR firms can't control the web any better than they can control those old Media institutions -- the NYT, WSJ, BW, etc.
Check out my oped on this issue on odwyerpr.com, the PR industry's premier newsletter and website.
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Aug. 22, 2006
YOUNG/WAL-MART/EDELMAN
TAKE BLOG PUNCHES
By James Bruni
"We absolutely want Wal-Mart's story to be in a discussion, in a conversation. That's the essence of the blogosphere," said Richard Edelman on a CNN interview on March 13. As the proverb says, watch out what you wish for.
The Andrew Young/Wal-Mart/Edelman fiasco is the talk of the blogosphere and most of the conversation isn't very pretty. That begs the question: Can a PR firm really manage the cyberspace debate? As Bob Marley said, "When you play with fire, yah gonna get burned."
PR firms can't control the blogosphere any better than they controlled old media institutions.
In a speech in London just a few months ago, Edelman offered some of the following "tips" for reaching out to the blogosphere:
"If there's a mistake about your company, about your product, send them an e-mail, raise your hand. They will correct it. That's what our studies show very clearly. Either by striking through and writing 'here's the fact.' Or, by correcting. One or the other. Very few of them will leave an inaccurate post."
One wonders if there is an army of young Edelman account executives busy this week answering bloggers who chimed in on the Young scandal: "We are sorry, but Andy didn't mean what he said ... and after all, Wal-Mart has fired him, so what's the big deal. Please post this on your blog."
The fact is that PR firms can't control the blogosphere any better than they controlled those old media institutions -- New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, etc.
Big PR firms are learning that the blogosphere is no answer for a company like Wal-Mart that really needed a more traditional media relations lobbying campaign.
There's just no way to get around the mainstream media. That's the lesson we learned during the past several days.
The blogosphere is a great place to promote new products, but ideas are another matter. There's a world of difference between promoting a new software app or tech product on slashdot, engadget, or robingood.com and trying to promote Wal-Mart as a good corporate citizen that is being "victimized" by the left-leaning liberal press.
Sure, you can sell that idea (as Edelman did) to the right wingers who run the political blogs, but the blogosphere is more complicated that Edelman envisioned.
As for PR firms, we need to refocus our attention on the old media while keeping an eye on the blogosphere. The media world hasn't changed all that much. Bloggers, just like their reporter counterparts, don't react well to PR firm-orchestrated campaigns that lack substance.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" – the Who
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James Bruni is president of Bruni PR in New York.
My oped in OdwyerPR has generated a ton of heat from the Edelman PR's so-called Me2Revolution unit. I've been jousting with these guys during the past few days on their blogs as I "pimp" my oped (their words).
The most criticism has come from Phil Gomes, who says my oped was "rhetorically unsound", but he refuses to address my main point that Edelman fumbled the ball in reaching out to rightwing bloggers in its vain effort to build support for Walmart on the Blogosphere.
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