With the age of online transparency upon us
and instant consumer reaction and upfront comment here to stay - is the age of
PR exaggeration and manufacturing a good old fashioned news story dead?
Now, I have always been honest during my PR
career and upfront with clients and contacts alike. However, I have to admit that in the past on one or two occasions
I have stretched the truth just a little to sell the story. Products might not have been flying off
the shelves, the student on work experience was not actually going to get married
to the receptionist, as depicted in a client case study, and my giant shirt
might not have been the world’s biggest!
So, I hold my hands up. In my defence I felt it was harmless
fun and when the papers ran stunt stories on the death of the artic roll and subbuteo,
only to bring the brands back due to popular demand, I felt my small
transgressions paled into insignificance.
This musing was prompted when I came across
an ‘egg on the face’ incident for Walmart, in the US. The poor team were hung
out to dry when they supported a story about Laura and Jim camping on Walmart
carparks and blogging about their experience.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/oct2006/db20061009_579137.htm
The
trouble was they were being fed news and key messages by Walmart and so they
became more unbelievable, with critics eventually questioning the couple’s
authenticity. Whatever the truth
of the story, Walmart’s critics investigated Laura and Jim online and holes
developed in their story.
I am sure clients and agency professionals
alike, over the last ten years, lived by the mantra - “Oh nevermind if they are
not a real couple or case study, we will get them to make up a story to
illustrate the campaign, it will
be fine!”
The art of our industry is to present people,
products, services and brands in a good light and I think the industry possesses
some of the best storytellers in the business.
Surely the trick is now to drive a debate and
a conversation both off and online with our target audiences in an up front, open
and honest, engaging way.
Thereby, we the guardians of reputation, can
be part of an honest conversation which is far more powerful than a
manufactured news article. Stunts
and ‘made up news’ need to be fun and obviously manufactured as the online generation
make Poirot look inept!
Posted by James
in Hatch, Social Media
/ Tue 06/10 / 17:23
Tags:
Permalink | Comments (0)
