* * Updated * *
Edelman‘s work with bloggers on behalf of Wal-Mart has come under scrutiny in an article in the New York Times today. It seems to come out well, despite some instances of bloggers not revealing that Wal-Mart has provided them with information.
The article relates how a team at Edelman are helping Wal-Mart improve its battered image by reaching out directly to bloggers.
The campaign tactics have included:
- Identifying bloggers who have written favourably about Wal-mart
- Contacting them personally and asking if they would like to receive information about Wal-Mart
- Distributing facts and points of view from Wal-Mart to those bloggers
- A "war-room" of consultants monitoring and responding to critics
- Creating a grass-roots "Working Families for Wal-Mart" campaign group
- Inviting bloggers to a media conference at Wal-Mart’s HQ
Reading closely you can see that Edelman have been very careful not to be unethical: they’ve asked people not to cut and paste from their emails (which would begin to sound like scripted editorials), asked people to declare their communication with the firm and are careful not to be seeming to buy influence with junkets (invitees to their press conference would have to make the trip at their own expense – something few professional journalists would stand for).
Although a cursory glance might prompt some to think that they are being manipulative, they are actually handling this really well as far as I can see. The reason? The team at Edelman mostly seem to be bloggers themselves.
The article also mentions a couple of other instances of major US companies working with bloggers:
Before General Electric
announced a major investment in energy-efficient technology last year,
company executives first met with major environmental bloggers to build
support. Others have reached out to bloggers to promote a product or
service, as Microsoft did with its Xbox game system and Cingular Wireless has done in the introduction of a new phone.
: : Update: Wise words as usual from Buzzmachine‘s Jeff Jarvis, who applauds Edelman’s blog tactics and then turns the tale on its head by suggesting we put the same standards / scrutiny onto newspaper journalism by the following advice to bloggers approached by PRs:
If you write a post inspired by what you get from a company or its
PR agent, say so. If you use facts or quotes from a company,
politician, PR agent, or press release, say so. If you get anything
from a PR agent — things, business meetings, social events — say so.And then you know what? You will be way ahead of the press.
I
think some newspaper ombudsmen should do PR audits of their papers. How
many storiese come from flacks without disclosure? How much of the
substance of stories comes from flacks without disclosure? How many
benefits accrue from flacks and companies without disclosure?Yes,
take this New York Times article about Walmart and its flacks and turn
it on any newspaper and any PR client and then you have a real story.
That would be an interesting exercise.
technorati tags: PR, corporate_communications, brand_communications, Walmart, Edelman
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