What a shock. The Web Marketing Association has concluded a a decade-long study of website development trends and ranked the industries that grok web presence the best. Guess who’s at the bottom of the list? PR agencies.
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Bullfighter Fights Corporate Bullshit
By 3.16.06
Dear Corporate Executives — please learn how to write. Having initially been a greasy, protoplasmic ooze poured into the mold of a stiff, starched suit, then imbued — Golem-like — with the spark of meaningless corporate business speak, you soulless automatons never seem to realize how meaningless phrases like “maximize initiatives” and “establish paradigm, COB” are to those of us who sprang forth from human loins.
McDonald’s Shady Anti-Spurlock Countermeasures
By 3.14.06
We hate Morgan Spurlock. Hate hate hate hate hate him. We swear to Buddha, 90% of this video of Mortal Kombat 3 fatalities is what would happen to him if John Brownlee ever, ever got his massive, Incredible-Hulk-like hands on the greasy little turd. The last 10% of the video — the part featuring Mortal Kombat 3’s Babalities — is what would happen if Ben Popken ever got the small, playdough-like lumps of his pudgy toddler’s fists on Spurlock. Such is our rage.
Detroit Pays Attention To Bloggers
By 3.10.06
Despite the rant we posted yesterday from Lori Green of GM, it appears that Detroit car manufacturers are slowly beginning to take actual measure of criticism directed at them. The Tennessean has an article up detailing how Detroit automobile companies are learning that they ignore bloggers’ criticisms at their peril.
PR Monolith Edelman’s Wal-Mart Cramps and Diarrhea
By 3.8.06
A brief glance on what goes on inside the mind of PR giant and Wal-Mart lover, Richard Edelman, courtesy of Gawker.com. Our virginal, Harriet-the-Spy-esque sister writes,
PR Agency Steps Up About Wal-Mart Blogging
By 3.8.06
We emailed Steve Rubel, a PR blog maven who recently was hired by Edelman, the same PR agency handling the Wal-Mart blog apparatchik. We asked him what he thought of the Wal-Mart blog affair. He passed our email along to Marshall at Blue World Wide, the advertising division of Edelman, who wrote us a nice note…after the jump.
Source Email From Wal-Mart’s Blogtrusion
By 3.7.06
Here’s an email Mark Thomas, an economics blogger, received from Wal-Mart via an employee of Edelman.
Walmart Loves Blogging
By 3.7.06
Walmart is drawing bloggers into the fold to help burnish its tarnished image.
The Consumerist Interview: Scott Meldrum of Hype Council
By 2.10.06
In a post on gaming webcomic Penny Arcade, an anonymous email was posted regarding the actions of Hype Council, accusing the company of hiring employees to create online personas to drive word-of-mouth marketing online.
WOMMA’s Word of Mouth Code of Ethics
By 2.10.06
WOMMA, the ‘Word of Mouth Marketing Association,’ has published their first draft of an ‘Ethics Code’ and they’re asking for “interested parties” to pass on comment. Touched with unique quality that allows marketers to mix terms describing ethics with terms describing profit, they’ve boiled down the ‘WOMMA Code’ to the ‘Honest ROI,’ comprised of the following:
McDonald’s Blog’s One-Way ‘Conversation’
By 1.26.06
After hearing about the blood-topped sundaes allegations at McDonalds, we thought we’d contact Bob Langert, McDonald’s Senior Director for Corporate Responsibility, who also posts to the company’s new Corporate Responsibility Blog, to encourage him to post about the issue. Unfortunately, despite a stated desire to “hear from you because we are always learning and trying to improve,” McDonald’s blog doesn’t have a way to actually contact Mr. Langert listed on the blog itself.
McDonald’s Starts Corporate Responsibility Blog
By 1.24.06
Cool. McDonald’s has started up a Corporate Responsibility Blog. Bob Langert, McDonald’s Senior Director for Corporate Responsibility, aims to open up the internal workings of McDonald’s to the scrutiny of his readers, field questions and talk about what McDonald’s is doing to address criticism of its practices.
Why We Gripe: Is Friendly Retail a Lost Cause?
By 1.19.06
Although the comments are full of the self-congratulatory jerking that we bloggers do so well, there are some interesting points raised in response to a post by Mike Sansone about a bad experience at CompUSA. Specifically, “Does complaining about an employee online do anything besides push down cloying training materials from the PR and sales departments of large retail operations?” (Actually, that’s our question.)
