People Respond: The New PR
What do Dell, Aol, Comcast, Coke, and Ford all have in common? Each has experienced first hand the effect of a new kind of “PR cycle” driven by immediate response (depicted here). This is a type of PR that hasn't traditionally existed until recent years—and is gaining momentum in a big way. So Dell launches a blog—who would even notice this in the “good old days”? In the old way, Dell would have done their thing and maybe sent out a press release. If they were lucky, they would have had a few news organizations pick up the story and maybe get a letter to the editor. But in today’s wired world, Dell’s blog has been one of the most talked about events in both traditional media and blogs where uncensored discussion happened almost immediately after. And let's not even get into the exploding laptop etc which only added more fuel to the fire so to speak .
And of course we can't forget AOL or Comcast, where in each case a “Power Consumer” armed with a recording device and social media technology was able to draw immediate attention to their story. Each caught the attention of the mainstream press early on. So are we looking at a new kind of PR? One where bloggers and mainstream media feed off of each other? How will companies choose to deal with instant feedback, criticism, dialogue and debate? Seems like the PR Pandora has left the box and isn’t going to be put back any time soon.
Hey, this is a GREAT diagram. I love your point about traditional and emerging media feed [and need] each other.
And for anyone who thinks neither AOL nor Comcast "did" anything - think again! Every employee is a marketer - from your front line staff to your legal department.
Posted by: Peter Kim | Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 07:51 AM
Peter, glad you liked the visual. I think you bring up a very profound thought in that "every employee is a marketer". if you think about it—every time someone interacts with an employee of a company, that is a small sample of a larger brand experience.
Those small samples have a wasy of adding up. And in the case of everyday people "finding ther voice"—as well as a platform to go with it, then it only takes one bad experience to cause mass distruption.
Posted by: DA | Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 10:43 AM
David -
Check out what's going on over at the Viral Garden.
Instead of responding to bloggers talking about Miami Vice (once it debuts), Universal Studios skipped the entire process and actually talked to the bloggers first. Here's the URL:
http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2006/07/tell-me-so-i-can-tell-world.html
Posted by: Clay Parker Jones | Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 11:02 AM
LOL.
Shows you how quickly things move in our space. Well, now we have the traditional model, the one I've outlined and the "go to blog" direct model. :)
If I didn't have a full time job, I'd create visuals for all three.
Posted by: DA | Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 11:12 AM
Great post. It is similar to a post I did a couple weeks ago. (please edit in link nsputnik dot com / ? p = 77) In my example I use marketing, in yours you use PR. I think Marketing, PR, and Customer Service are all starting to blur together thanks to new media.
Posted by: Nick Dynice | Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 06:15 PM
Have you read David Meerman Scott's The New Rulse of PR? I like the way he places PR into a more strategic framework.
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | Thursday, August 03, 2006 at 07:31 AM