Microsoft’s PR team: little devil on the tech blogger’s shoulder

Every now and then I come across a blogger trying to give advice to PR experts on pitching and communicating with bloggers. Recently my colleague Hilary posted a video on her blog featuring one of those guys. What was interesting to me is that he advised PR people to give their products to bloggers for testing if they want their pitch to work.
Freebies are not uncommon when it comes to selling your story to the journalists, but there is always the question of where to draw the line in terms of the value of the gift.
Last year Microsoft gave Acer Ferarri laptops to 90 influential tech bloggers, which cost over $2000 at that time. The rationale behind this was to help the bloggers accelerate their evaluation of Windows Vista. While some bloggers were more then happy to believe that (it is worth 2000 bucks after all), others thought of it as a bribe and got extremely offended. David Pogue, The New York Times tech blogger was outraged, and said on his blog:

“You don’t keep $2,200 gifts from the subject of your review. You might think you can still write an impartial review, but it’s highly unlikely-and either way, nobody will believe it.”

Along with this comment, Pogue summarised Microsoft’s history of bribing journalists and even editing Wikipedia entries to their advantage. He ended his post by calling the Microsoft PR team Machiavellis.
Whereas he seems to think that journalism ethics should apply to bloggers too, others have a different take on this subject.
Those who are offended by this freebie started talking about the bribe instead of Microsoft’s new product, and the story reached conventional media. So, if you’re tempted to be the little devil on the blogger’s shoulder, think again.

Consumers are creators too

... this was one of the conclusions of the 2007 New Media Academic Summit hosted by Edelman and PRWeek. Much of the discussion revolved around engaging consumers through online communities, social networks, virtual worlds and co-creating content – shifting from intrusion model to an invitation model of marketing.
Here are the key recommendations of the summit for engaging consumers through social networks. I believe these can be applied to online environment in general:
1. “Let go” and invite users to help shape the brand
2. Grant consumers control over how and when the interact with the brand
3. Deliver content that is relevant, interesting and entertaining. Consumers do not

differentiate between marketing and entertainment
4. Do not interact only to push your product or build your brand
5. Avoid intrusion. Consumers must decide if they want to interact with the brand
6. Be transparent. Admit weakness. Be honest.
Consumers are creative individuals, they want to express themselves, and be engaged. As one of the participants of the summit noted - most successful campaigns in the recent years have included consumers. He pointed to Dove as an example of successful online marketing. So, I decided to take a look at what they’re doing..
Dove recently launched an online channel which is meant to create a unified worldwide experience for their customers, enable the building of an online community and provide a personalized experience for each individual visitor. Visitors are encouraged to participate in ongoing discussion on real beauty, which reinforces their general marketing efforts.
One of the most interesting features of the channel are the Reality Diaries – four blogs written by ordinary teenage girls, covering their everyday experiences which are meant to engage young audience.
Dove’s well known “Evolution” video is also used to encourage people to participate in the debate around the beauty stereotypes. This video was posted on YouTube by fans and viewed over 8 million times. It triggered both online and offline conversations. It also triggered response in shape of parody videos such as “Slob evolution” and “Bush evolution”, which could be considered a downside; however, it is a way in which consumers interact with the brand.

All those efforts serve as a way to build the brand’s relationship with the customers which entails letting go of control and allowing customers to be equal in that relationship. Sometimes the results are opposing views and negative comments, but this is a tool of improving the brand and making it a perfect match to customers’ needs.
Consumers are creators too...

Calculating ROI of corporate blogging

One way of marketing a consultancy and attracting new clients is by developing new tools and services which help them develop utilize the new media to their advantage.
One example I find interesting is a framework for measuring Return of Investment of corporate blogging, developed by Forrester Research Inc., technology and marketing research company. This tool should allow their clients to measure four major benefits of corporate blogging which they have established through informal research. The entire report explaining the main principles and the research on which they base them is available only to their clients. However, this chart provides a rough summary:







There are a few questions which pop up after looking at this chart. Let’s take savings on customer insight, for example. Can blog comments be equated to focus group research? You cannot be sure that people behind the comments are representative of your target market. The ways of interacting are different. Instead of just guiding the discussion, the author of the blog usually participates. Not to mention that people who comment can have rather different views from those who just read the blog, or do not read it at all.
When it comes to increased sales efficiency, decrease in the cost of sale could be attributed to the corporate blog if a link is established between reading the blog and the decision to purchase. Otherwise, it could be a mere coincidence.
Looking at advertising value of blog traffic and blog-driven press coverage presents the same doubts as the Advertising Value Equivalent in general (it doesn’t tell us anything about changes in attitudes, knowledge or behaviour, for example)
As for the word of mouth benefit, the same value (cost of hiring a buzz agent) is used regardless of whether the number of people commenting on the blog is 4 or 5, or 200.
These are just a few doubts about this framework as an appropriate for measuring ROI. My guess is, most clients won’t be asking most of these questions, so it probably works quite well for Forrester in terms of getting new clients through the door.

Battlefield Facebook

According to a legend, there was a small fortress back in 16th century, attacked by the Ottoman Empire. After a long siege, food run out and the people in the fortress were hungry and exhausted. The commanding officer started to consider surrendering to the enemy. There was only one small rooster left to eat, not enough to feed them all. But then, an old and wise woman suggested to the commanding officer to fire the rooster out of a cannon to give the enemy the impression that they had plenty of food left. And it worked – the enemy retreated. It was a proper PR spin, good old fashioned propaganda.
Now, imagine the people in the fortress had Facebook... I bet you the siege would end differently!
“I’m hungry!”
“Looking at that rooster right now, reaching for the knife!”
“Not much to do but wait for surrender”
Last weak Siggi wrote about the problems Israeli army is facing in relation to Facebook. British Ministry of Defence has similar worries. Their soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq aren’t exactly happy campers and they often use social networking sites to channel their frustrations and complaints. So, guys at MoD developed the Defence Online Engagement Strategy which describes how these threats are going to be tackled. Words like dismissal and even court martial are mentioned. The document also describes how they intend to use social media as a PR weapon.
The document states: “...our own people are our most effective advocates in promoting our activities, and they can be our most damaging critics."
The same goes for all organizations. For MoD controlling the online activity of soldiers is a difficult task, but at least they have the court martial, unlike other types of organizations.

Croatia: Mediterranean as it once was. Tourism promotion as it once was.

When planning to go on a trip to a foreign country or looking for the next holiday destination, most of us go to YouTube for more information. What you find there will most certainly influence the decision you make in the end.
Last year, Tourism New Zealand, a commercial tourist company in New Zealand invested $320 000 for tourism promotion on YouTube as a part of a broader campaign. This included 24 hour paid video space on YouTube homepage showing their new commercial “100% Pure New Zealand”.
Apart from that, they’ve established New Zealand branded YouTube channel – the world’s first dedicated to a single country. The channel was updated regularly with new content such as mini-documentaries.

Within first 48 hours they recorded around 500 000 views of their TV ad. Not bad. This ad is the first video that shows up when you search for New Zealand on YouTube.
In words of Tourism NZ CEO, George Hickton, YouTube is a great example of how a small country can use technology to its advantage.

Like New Zealand, my homeland Croatia is a small country with tourism accounting for around 1/3 of GDP. So, tourism promotion should be one of the top priorities.
When you put “Croatia” into YouTube search engine, one of the first results you get is a video showing rapper 50 Cent sniffing coke prior to his concert in Croatia. Not exactly something you want potential visitors to see.
To get to the promotion video of the Croatian National Tourist Board you’d have to go through five pages of content, and it was uploaded by an anonymous user. So, it is safe to say the tourist board isn't using YouTube at all.
As for the quality of the videos, it is hard for me to be impartial, so feel free to comment on that.
According to New York Times, when you actually visit Croatia "You will cry when you see it. Bring tissues. You will need them."
According to me, when you watch these videos you will fall asleep. Make some coffee. You will need it.
Croatia, the Mediterranean as it once was - part 1


Croatia, the Mediterranean as it once was - par 2

Coca Cola: The Real Thing in a Virtual World

Coca Cola was one of the first companies to get involved in virtual worlds and among very few that seem to have done it right.
In 2002. they launched their own promotional mini virtual world, Coke Studios, at music site MyCoke.com. It was targeted at teens and young adults, enabling them to create their own music mixes in a virtual music studio. Coke Studio avatars were called V-egos, and they had the possibility to socialize in public rooms based on international cities and communicate through an in-world messenger.
Last year, Coca Cola launched a contest for Second Life residents and the general population to design a virtual vending machine that dispenses an experience rather than a can or bottle of Coke, through its “Virtual Thirst” competition. They wanted people to create a portable device for Second Life’s “in-world” digital society that “unleashes a refreshing and attention-grabbing experience, on demand”.
Unlike some companies, Coca Cola didn’t make the mistake of just jumping into SL without considering the needs and expectations of the residents. They started by assembling a virtual advisory board consisted of Second Life residents and designers and collecting feedback on the competition concept.
Michael Donnelly, Coca Cole’s Director of Global Interactive Marketing described this approach to SL community:

“We have been careful to seek the opinion of the Second Life community before bringing it a new experience. Our approach has been to create a program that enhances this exciting virtual environment. We plan to continue conversing with residents throughout this process. “
Instead of just creating an island in SL and waiting for residents to stumble upon it, this creative approach enabled people to express their creativity and communicate the values connected to the brand."

Recently, Coca Cola replaced Coke Studios with CC Metro - a Coke bottle-shaped continent in the virtual realm of There.com. The reason behind it was to create a richer, more lifelike experience for the residents. There.com is a small virtual environment in comparison to SL, but its major advantage is tighter control over intellectual property and resident behaviour (adult content, for example)
Although you can’t beat the real thing, Coca Cola was pretty successful in transferring the values connected to its brand to virtual realities.

Blogging your way out of a crisis: the Dell Hell case

Research shows that people who read organizational blogs during a crisis perceive a lower level of crisis than people who don’t. This is true only if the blog is seen as credible, and not just as the voice of the corporation. The key factors for the success of the blog as a crisis communication tool are the conversational human voice factor and the responsiveness factor.
Using a blog in a crisis in a right way isn’t easy, and good example of some of the things that can go wrong is Dell and its handling of the online discussions about its customer service failings.
Prior to offshoring some of its customer support functions, Dell was a company with an excellent reputation for customer services. Lowering the cost of the customer service seriously damaged that reputation and the blogosphere started buzzing with concerns raised by the unsatisfied customers.
The most influential blogger among those people was Jeff Jarvis, who went hard on Dell on his blog BuzzMachine.
Dell responded by launching an official customer services blog, Direct2Dell, which was used to address the issues raised by customers and explain the steps taken by Dell to improve its service. For them, trying to blog their way out of the crisis was a somewhat rocky ride.
Jeff Jarvis wasn’t exactly impressed by their attempt to deal with the crisis, and Steve Rubel criticized Direct2Dell saying it lacks genuine conversation on the critical issues and looks a bit like a corporate brochure. On top of that, people who were working on the project made some huge mistakes in communicating with Jarvis (see the video below).



However, the analysis of the comments before and after the blog was set up does show the reduction in negative commentary about Dell’s customer service. Even though handling of the crisis was far from perfect, Dell should be commended for making this effort. Just like Shell became the example of a company that learned from their bad handling of Brent Spar crisis, Dell might become the example of a company who did the same thing in the blogosphere.

Mom-fluentials: The most important job in the whole virtual world

Little Girl to her friend: "I'm never having kids. I hear they take nine months to download."

In my book, there is nothing more annoying than those washing detergent commercials. They always show a confused woman whose biggest life problem is a stain on her white shirt. Even worse, some of them feature a MAN. The MAN isn’t there to wash the laundry; he is there to explain to that poor woman which product is the best for her household (sort of like a theoretical support to the practitioner in the trenches).
In cases like this, the practice is mostly left to women. There is still a wide belief that most men do not posses the much needed talent when it comes to things like personal hygiene, cooking, or childcare. So, marketers and PR people target the women when promoting the related products. And to some extent, this does make some sense, I must admit.
But nowadays, thanks to progress and technology, women do not listen to the almighty MAN from the commercial. They listen to each other, or more specifically the more influential among them, the Mom-fluentials. They are the new opinion leaders women turn to when they want to discuss extremely important stuff like nappies or shampoos. (For those of you who resent my sarcasm, let me just remind you that there are millions of children dying of hunger each year).
At Burson-Marsteller they claim they have managed to identify 502 of women with children under 17 who are using the latest online and offline technologies to share their opinions about products and services, and influence the purchase habits of their friends and family. Nine out of ten of those women are often approached by people for advice about brands, products and services.
Burson-Marsteller offers clients help in communicating with this “Mom community”. Reading about this was kind of a wow moment for me personally! There is a Mom community out there? Apparently by giving birth you are initiated into this community and you gain valuable knowledge and respect through which you can potentially exert the influence no childless woman can dare dream of.
To sum things up – we have Dads who are divided into numerous groups by age, income, education, cultural background, etc., and we have Moms. Moms either have two full time jobs and very little time for MySpace (or MyTime in general, for that mater), or they have only one job and plenty of time to read retailer e-mails and forward coupons. In the old days the second group was called housewives; nowadays they are called Mom-fluentials.
Even though I have no idea how they've managed to determine those 502 Mom-fluentials or what motherhood has to do with the influence, if I ever have kids I’m not going to be just a regular booger wiper, I’m going to be a Mom-fluential. With the nappy in one hand and keyboard in the other. And even if I don’t influence my own kid in a positive way, I will influence strangers online and all those PR and marketing people will bow to my Motherhood.
As for Burson-Marsteller, by coining this catchy new word they have secured extensive media coverage and some new clients, no doubt.

To learn about Mom-fluentials look at this slideshow by Idil Cakim, Director of Knowledge Development at Burson-Marsteller:

View Upload your own

Second Life: Back to PR 101?

“Whew! All those virtual, spiky-haired avatars were running, swimming and flying around without any reliable public relations consulting. How did they manage to get anything done?”

Aaron Uhrmacher from Text 100, the first PR consultancy to establish its offices in Second Life, denied that RL companies are establishing the presence in SL just to get coverage in real life media. He claims, instead, that the real value of virtual worlds comes from actual engagement with the virtual communities.

Personally, I’m not convinced. And some of the residents of Second Life also seem to disagree with this view. Interestingly, PR professionals have managed to gain quite negative media coverage in the SL media, especially The Second Life Herald. According to some residents, PR agencies have largely abused SL in several ways.

Apparently, what upsets them the most are the “first claims” in the RL media – claiming they were first to do things that some of the residents did long before. Whether they are purposefully stealing other people’s merits or just displaying poor knowledge of SL history, isn’t the issue. Some of them are just doing a bad job as PR professionals. They obviously failed to understand one of the most important norms in SL community.
Another issue bothering the residents is the phenomenon of channel abandonment, as well as lack of respect in communication.

One blogger who was present at the Intel SL press conference made this comment on his blog:
“So let me get this straight. We can come and listen to a dry monologue about a new Island opening that was news last week, provided we don't actually talk to each other, or the Intel guys, and that we "show some respect" and direct questions through people that clearly need to go back to PR 101? “

In response to such behavior the residents of Dreamland, which constitutes 10% of the land mass and 10% of the active residents in SL, voted to ban dishonest PR and marketing flacks from their region. Such misuse of SL will join the list of bannable offences like theft, violation of intellectual property, sexual harassment, online rape and distribution of child pornography. Nice, ha?

It seems to me that some PRs need to brush up on their professional ethic and basic skills, such as doing research and developing relationships with the communities they are part of. So far, some of them didn’t do a very good job for PR as a profession, or their clients. Whether they want to admit it or not, I think most of them are primarily using SL to achieve certain goals for their clients in RL, and don’t show real interest in the (rather small) SL community.

Andrew McGregor (Text 100) about Second Life




Steve Rubel about Second Life

New Tricks of Cyberpolitics

„I hear there is rumours on the internets” (G.W.Bush)

Many believe that J.F.K. won the 1960 elections because the camera loved him. Back then TV was the new media and the J.F.K. – Nixon debate was the cutting edge of political campaigning. Kennedy had the talent for it and his opponent didn’t.
In 2004 blogging was that new exciting frontier. Lucky for Bush, people called “e-campaign managers” were there to help him find his way around the “internets”.
Americans were always ahead of the game in utilizing the new media for political purposes and right now the 2008 campaign is pushing the boundaries through innovative cyber strategies. On the other side of Atlantic, the British are watching and learning.
Behind all that excitement is the belief that the political landscape has changed significantly due to development of social media, and that Web 2.0 is the new political battlefield for this campaign. Internet’s Broader Role in Campaign 2008, a study done by Pew Research Centre, shows we’re not quite there yet, but we’re certainly moving in that direction.
So, all the candidates have their e-campaign chiefs. Who conduct social media audits to determine who the e-fluentials are in order to influence them (pardon, e-nfluence). and develop blogger relations. They also have thousands of new friends on Facebook and MySpace and target them with their friendly messages.
Hillary, for example, has around 125 000 friends on Facebook. You can regularly monitor their exact number on tech President. That is, if you care. In addition, Google’s Election & Issues Advocacy sales team offers the Election 2008 Gadget providing the newest blogs and YouTube videos for the candidates of your choice.
Some of the candidates even have a second life, which is a way of reaching out to people who have escaped their real lives in order to get as far away as possible form the annoying politicians (among other things).
But, Internet is a jungle, mind you. Al sorts of thing can go wrong. For instance, a Republican candidate Joe Biden by strange accident became friends with one named Suzy Q, a transsexual adult entertainer. Lovely as she might be, she wasn’t exactly friendship material for his conservative voters.
Strange accidents aside, Internet is still not the battlefield. But it will be, and soon. Candidates who recognize it as a level playingfield where everyone has a chance to be influential will be the winners. There is no tactic, no matter how sophisticated, that can compensate for the lack of vision, quality and ethical standards.



CBC News Today host Nancy Wilson interviews Jesse Hirsh regarding the role and influence of social media on the 2008 US Presidential Election