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September 22, 2005

No hot dog, no story

So a bunch of bloggers are ticked at me because I advocated full disclosure of any compensation or discounts they get in return for blogging about a topic. They also said I should have checked whether all bloggers got a discount on merchandise for blogging about Baby Blogapalooza. I assumed that because some did, all did. They’re right, and I apologize for not checking. (But it's still surprising that only some received the offer. Why not all?)

We’ve been talking a lot more here about the broader issue of whether bloggers should disclose fees, discounts and free samples. ZeroBoss points out that he’s not for sale for a mere discount on a desk, or for the money he gets for the Google ads on his site.

I think it’s admirable for a blogger, or a newspaper reporter, to be totally upfront about any freebies, as Mrs. Kennedy did. But upon further reflection, I think it’s up to the individual blogger to make her own decisions about disclosure.

Here’s where I’m coming from. I’ve been a reporter and editor. Most MSM have conflict-of-interest rules that wouldn’t allow a reporter to take a discount for writing about a company. That’s because (1) they fear the reporter will be unduly influenced by the freebie, (2) the media outlet is already paying the reporter (even if only slightly above the minimum wage). Freelance journalists have been known, for example, to accept lucrative consulting gigs with the industries they cover. Those arrangements are considered totally unethical, more so if they’re not disclosed.

But, fear not, there’s still plenty of swag to be had by reporters. Most MSM do accept free books, CDs and cars for review purposes. (The books and the CDs are often given away to staff; the cars are returned.) Many sports reporters insist on being fed while reporting a game (no hot dog, no story). And it would be an unhappy auto writer who came to Detroit in January for the annual auto show and didn’t get jumbo shrimp, a canvas tote bag, and a box of chocolates for his troubles.

So I don’t think the issue of disclosure is a black or white one. What if we go back to asking whether a reasonable person might think the size of the compensation makes it likely that you’re selling out? Thousands of dollars? Free cars? Sell-out. Free food? Not a sell-out. Discount on a dresser? You tell me.

Posted by at 11:43 AM
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One Blog Gets Upfront About Pitches

By Charlie Kondek

Now here's something I appreciate. I blogged previously about pitching to bloggers, throwing my support behind the idea of a blog somehow signaling whether it wants to receive pitches from PR folk or not. Check out this site. Food blog Accidental Hedonist has a link right on its homepage to a set of guidelines for pitches, stating explicitly what is welcome and what is not.

"If you are a PR company who wishes to have their products reviewed, please read our guidelines prior to sending an e-mail message," the site instructs. Within the guidelines, the Hedonist also spells out what PR firms should and should not expect in exchange for their free stuff:

"If you send me a product to be approved, you will agree to the following.

· You agree that I do NOT have to post about your product unless I decide to. Tara and I make the decisions on this site, and we will not have outside companies dictate what I can and cannot post.
· You agree that I do NOT have to give a positive review of your product.
· You agree that I do NOT have to paint your product in a positive light.
· You agree that if a product is sent to me, it does not require any action on my part, whatsoever.
· I reserve the right to alert my readers which products have been sent to me in order for them to decide if my review is legitimate or not."

The guideline does not, however, pledge to disclose all freebies and/or discounts to readers, a gray area that has stimulated some debate on this blog.

But the Hedonist’s guidelines are certainly a step toward clarity in the ongoing PR-ization of news blogs.

Posted by staff at 07:56 AM
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September 19, 2005

Global PR Week 2.0 starts today

Our very own Jud Branam is part of Global PR Blog Week 2.0. Jud is interviewed by Jeff Hardison of McClenahan-Bruer Communications in a podcast about product blogs.

Here's the program for Monday, Sept. 19:

* Elizabeth Albrycht - Blogs: Foundational tools for community network building
* Niall Cook - Blogging for our brand: Building a business blogging community for Hill & Knowlton
* Invited Paper | Nancy White & Lee LeFever - Surprising partners: Adding blogs to an existing non-profit community

Business blogs around the world

* Italo Vignoli: Growing a PR blog in a different language

CEO blogs

* Jeneane Sessum - Adding your voice to the conversation — Why CEOs should blog
* Dave Taylor - Why CEOs shouldn’t blog

External corporate blogs

* John Cass - Interacting with customers through corporate blogging
* Robb Hecht - The Freakonomics Blog - PR Machine interview
* Ryan May - Small company? Better blog!

Fake blogs

* Dave Taylor - Fake blogs: New marketing channel or really bad idea?

Internal blogs

* Matias Fernandez Dutto - How to designing powerful conversations that open possibilities for action and colaboration with blogs

Product blogs

* Jeff Hardison: Opening a product’s hood through blogs - Podcast interview with Jud Branam, Hass MS&L, PR counselor behind GM’s FastLane product blog

Posted by at 10:38 AM
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September 16, 2005

Firestorm over Firehouse blog

Chrysler Group launched a blog this week for journalists only. TheFirehouse.biz blog is named after the extremely popular (can you say "free music, hot food and open bar"?) media-only party it hosts for several days during the North American International Auto Show at a Detroit firehouse. Its editorial director is Ed Garsten, formerly of CNN, The Associated Press and, most recently, The Detroit News’ GM beat.

The problem came when some bloggers who applied for admission were rejected. They got this e-mail (I got one, too):

Thanks for your interest in TheFirehouse.biz, the Chrysler Group's media-only blog. We will issue media registration rights to members of the working press only. A member of the working press is one who is paid as an employee, freelancer who regularly contributes, or representative of a known and established media organization (newspaper, magazine, television, radio, etc.) If you would like to resubmit your registration, we would be happy to reconsider it.

Note the list of legit media doesn’t include web sites or blogs, although Garsten said: "Yes, we do consider some blogs legitimate journalism and have granted access to those who regularly cover the auto industry." He also promises that "No one will ever be banished for negative comments or negative stories."

Adrants, B.L. Ochman, Diva Marketing and Chris Houchens were not kind. Adrants called it "completely illogical and non-sensical," and Houchens lumped it in with the notorious fake blogs by Captain Morgan and Juicy Fruit. (On the other hand, Topaz Partners gave Chrysler credit for focusing its first blogging effort on a selected audience.)

Chrysler Communications VP Jason Vines answered on The Firehouse.biz:

The Firehouse.biz is a chance to have an open dialogue with journalists who report on our company and the industry and who literally bombard us with their comments, questions, rants and bad jokes. Unlike our media site, which is a one-way deal, The Firehouse.biz is a two-way street that goes off the page of the press release and allows reporters to vent, probe, attack, while we get a chance to respond on the fly from anywhere in the world and maybe hose down some rumors, or douse the idiotic rants from someone who is uninformed.

In fact, a blog might be the right tool to accomplish those tasks. But surely you’re inviting trouble when you publicize your blog and link to it from your media site, then restrict access so severely.

Vines, whose former jobs include standup comedian and top flack for Ford executive Jac Nasser, also notes on the blog that:

Everything we say in TheFirehouse.biz is on the record, so you’re all free to use anything posted by me or our executives in a story or broadcast. All I ask in return from the media, is please, no X-rated stuff. I get enough of that in my email box … and I’m trying to get my mother to stop. Also … in the spirit of keeping things open and honest, we’d prefer you use your real names when you submit a comment or question. You can use a screen name if you like, but then how would I know to leave you off the list for the holiday party? Finally, we’ll never edit your submissions, but we’ll only post those that stay on the topic and agree with everything I say. That last part’s not true.

So far, only three journalists have left comments on The Firehouse.biz. But there are already seven links to it on Technorati.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 02:33 PM
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September 14, 2005

Wal-Mart hits, Humane Society's misses opportunity

Wal-Mart has a new blog that tells stories of how its employees and stores are helping Hurricane Katrina victims. For example, Wal-Mart employee Shannon Hampton came up with the idea of creating a storm victim registry, like a wedding registry, so friends and relatives can help resupply storm victims with the items they need. The blog doesn't allow comments, but it's a step in the right direction for a company with so many image problems.

This could be the tip of the iceberg for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart could use a blog to take its critics head-on. Or it could report on progress at the experimental store in Texas that is helping with enviromental sustainability. The company should take a deep breath, however, and allow comments.

Another well-meaning hurricane blog misses an opportunity. Laura Bevan, incident commander of the Humane Society's National Disaster Animal Response Teams in Mississippi, has a journal on the Humane Society's Web site.

Sadly, the journal only has two entries. I'm sure her work is unbelievably time-consuming and tiring and she doesn't have time to update it. But who wouldn't want to read about her challenges? What an easy way to get the word out and help increase donations.

A ray of hope, however: the Humane Society is recognizing blogs in another way. On the home page, it says "Have your own blog or website? Download a banner here."

Posted by at 08:24 AM
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September 13, 2005

New corporate blogs on the block?

It looks like the soda and sweets maker Cadbury Schweppes has started a corporate communications blog. (via Constantin Basturea)

A quick search on on the Cadbury Schweppes web site shows another blog launch: Graduate Blogs launched. "Do you want to get a better idea of what it's like to work for Cadbury Schweppes? Then have a look at our business area blogs and hear some first hand stories from our current graduate trainees." Seven of their eight graduate areas have blogs.

InfoUSA is also testing the blog waters.

Posted by at 03:48 PM
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September 12, 2005

Blogs: Four-point-fifth estate?

By Charlie Kondek

Recently I was involved in pitching content ideas to bloggers on behalf of a client, something we do pretty regularly here at Hass MS&L. It sometimes falls under word of mouth campaigns, sometimes an extension of traditional PR work.

In pitching, I identify myself as a PR professional and eschew any colorful language about the blogging phenomenon or influencers or any other such jargon. I just get to the point, sometimes adding, "I know this might not be your thing, but thought I'd try anyway."

The responses I got from this latest round fell into four categories: some ignored me, some agreed to blog about the content, some said thanks-but-no-thanks, and more than a few said they'd like to blog about the pitch but couldn't.

The last category raises the most questions. Why couldn't they? One or two said they simply made it a policy not to do such things according to their own rules about blogging or the appropriateness of their specific blog, but one said she would take too much "heat" for blogging about anything too commercial or corporate. She didn’t specify who would be generating the heat, whether it would be other bloggers, her readers or someone else. In this person's view, that social pressure made her blog off limits to PR efforts.

This group bears watching as more bloggers migrate to the fourth estate as emerging players in the news landscape, and others define themselves strictly as outsiders, a fifth column that cannot or should not be contaminated. Those in between – particularly those trying to blog as a source of income – face a dilemma. How long will blog cred be defined by outsider status?

Not everyone in the blogosphere agrees on its mores or rules, and those lines are drawn more clearly for some than for others. Some PR bloggers have suggested that would-be recipients of pitches might indicate their willingness to play the PR game with an icon: red-yellow-green light, Darth Vader, circle-and-slash Darth Vader, whatever. PR Opinions has a great round up about pitching to bloggers.

The culture of blogging is one of constant change. Many bloggers who demurred this time around said they are growing more news segments and want to be included on future pitches, advertising, sponsorships or other relationships. Others still treat me like I've peed on their carpet by even suggesting they might use their blog to help my hyping.

Detroit rock icons The White Stripes said recently they’re considering writing a song for Coke, saying (I paraphrase) the prevailing opinion about commercial jingles among musicians has swung from "Stay pure" to "Why leave all that money on the table?"

We’re not offering cash to bloggers to pick up our news notes (sorry!) but it’s the same debate on a micro scale. It’ll be interesting to see how that reaction ratio changes as blogging keeps growing and evolving.

UPDATE: Edelman and Technorati are going to survey bloggers to find out how PR companies can best approach them. A proposed questionnaire is supposed to be posted today.

Posted by staff at 12:40 PM
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September 07, 2005

WOMMA conference discount

By David Binkowski

WOMMA's Word of Mouth vs. Advertising Conference is scheduled for Sept. 28 in New York.

We have a $50 discount code: hassisawesome. Register on their conference page.

Hass MS&L is a member of WOMMA, which is committed to building a prosperous word-of-mouth marketing industry based on best practices, measurable ROI and ethical leadership.

Posted by staff at 11:21 AM
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