Strike Three for Edelman
First, let me say that I am a big fan of Steve Rubel, Phil Gomes, and many other Edelman folk. But, for a PR team that claims such impressive stars in its line-up, it’s been striking out big-time with the Wal-Mart account.
The inimitable John Wagner points us to this incredibly lame experiment by Edelman’s Wal-Mart team: they set-up a fake blog, "Wal-Marting Across America" featuring a professional writer and WaPo photog (incognito), RV’ing throughout America’s Wal-Mart parking lots. The fact that this was a PR stunt, with paid bloggers on-board, was not disclosed. According to MediaPost:
"The blog, launched Sept. 27, was profiled in this week’s issue of BusinessWeek, which exposed the site as a promotional tactic engineered by Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFWM), an organization launched by Wal-Mart’s public relations firm Edelman. WFWM paid for the RV and all travel expenses, rerouted the trip’s original plan, and plastered a logo on the RV’s side. Although the blog featured a link to WFWM, it did not identify the organization as a paid sponsor."
This is wrong on so many levels. And it is Stike 3 for Edelman (not Strike 2, as Joseph Jaffe suggests). Edelman, the self-described leader in me2, in transparency, in Social Media PR strategies. (Or, maybe not.)
Strike 2 was Edelman VP Mike Krempasky’s (debatable) handling of the Consumerist flap.
Strike 1 was the bungled blogger relations campaign in March 2006.
Note to the good guys at Edelman: it is not just your agency but your own credibility that is on the line when a.) your agency TALKS about transparency but does not PRACTICE it, and, b.) you don’t blog about these fiascos (pro or con).
Silence is not golden. Silence gives consent.
Tags: edelman, wal-mart, john+wagner, joseph+jaffe, businessweek, public+relations, social+media, blogging
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I am a student at Auburn University and Rick Murray, the general manager of Edelman PR Worldwide was visiting our class week.
He lectured about blogging and social media and the like and my classmates and I were very impressed. A company that was actually practicing what my professor had been preaching.
He talked about the dos and don’ts of being hired, being promoted and getting ahead in the business world. I was raised with morals and values and none of them ever included hypocrisy.
I checked Edelman’s 6am blog today and there is still no comment on Walmart or anything about fake blogging. Being one of the biggest PR firms in the world you would think that they would know how to do damage control. As for me I guess I’ll just have to look up to a new PR God!
And finally we get a response from Richard Edelman. Duly noted and noble…but it’s like Jerry Jones talking to the press after making his contribution to the Dallas Police Fund to keep them from bitching about T.O.s denial of his suicidal comments.
It’s NOT transparent…they DIDN’T join the conversation…and having the CEO make the response without any of the culpable participants joining the conversation is absolutely inexcusable. A big agency could truly screw up a wet dream.
Oh my, I hadn’t noticed before that Edelman’s head of online public affairs is Mike Krempasky. (Or was, is he still?)
Hahahahahaha.
Nothing against Mike, who I understand isn’t a bad guy, but he’s such a heavily partisan figure that anyone on the other side of the political divide, even slightly, is going to distrust anything he does or is involved in.
Where I come from, Edelman has just told me everything I need to know about their politics – and trust me, many other political influentials will feel the same way.
And it doesn’t look like Republicans are going to be in charge of every branch of government any more, pretty damn soon….