Oct

21

Edelman in Crisis Mode

October 21, 2006 |

After the discovery of the two Walmart flogs, PR firm Edelman is now working to estinguish the fires it set for itself. The story was even featured on CNN.com, exposing it to a whole new audience besides bloggers - though arguably and audience that could probably care less. To salvage what is left, the company is going to hold ethics workshops for all its empolyees, establish a 24/7 hotline, create ethics materials and audit “around the world to ensure we apply best practice guidelines to every program in every market and specialty areas.”

Here is the complete rundown:

  • We are undertaking a thorough audit around the world to ensure we
    apply best practice guidelines to every program in every market and
    specialty area.
  • We are requiring that all employees attend an Edelman
    University class on ethics in social media, hosted by members of
    me2revolution team as well as external experts. This will take place
    before the end of next week
  • We are establishing a 24/7 hotline so our me2revolution
    team can review, provide counsel and apply best practice guidelines on
    social media programs before their implementation. This ensures that
    programs adhere to the WOMMA guidelines or best-in-class standards around the world.
  • We are creating ethics materials that will be distributed to each office and all new hires.

    This is just the beginning. We recognize we have further to go. You
    can and should be helping us. I appreciate all the invaluable feedback
    you have provided during this week–and we have taken action on at
    least of one of your comments. If there any other actions that you
    would advise us to consider, I would welcome them.

  • What was really missing from their strategy was common sense. The blogging campaign for Walmart was set up like a TV ad campaign with fake customers giving fake reviews of a mediocre product. That works, because on TV, we don’t expect anything else - we know everybody is fake. In the blogosphere, though, we expect authenticity.
  • Another thing Edelman apparently did not realize - the reaction of the blogosphere is harsh and blogers have a good long-term memory. At least they are open about their mistakes and so the first step to reabilitation have been made.

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