Digg/shelholtz
Flickr/shelholtz
Facebook/Shel Holtz
Linkedin/shelholtz
Twitter/shelholtz
YouTube/shelholtz
Del.icio.us/shelholtz
GMail/Shel Holtz
Technorati/shelholtz
MyBlogLog/shelholtz
Utterz/shel
§ Subscribe
§ Podcast
- For Immediate Release
A weekly podcast for professional communicators from Shel Holtz, ABC and Neville Hobson, ABC.
Podcast Feed
Vote for FIR
§ PR Search
§ Places
- Shel's link blog
- Blogs I read
- Holtz Communication + Technology
- IABC
- Ragan Communications
- Society for New Communications Research
§ Dead Trees
- Tactical Transparency
by Shel Holtz and John C. Havens
- How to Do Everything with Podcasting
by Shel Holtz with Neville Hobson
- Blogging for Business
by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos
- Corporate Conversations
by Shel Holtz
- Public Relations on the Net
by Shel Holtz
§ License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Edelman cited in top dumb business move of 2006
I like Edelman. I really do. I like Richard and think he’s a smart guy who understands the social media landscape. I like the people I know who work there. I like some of them a lot. But it seems that the hits just keep on coming for the world’s largest independent PR agency. Business 2.0 has just unveiled its 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2006, and topping the chart is the Wal-Mart campaign that turned the smiley-faced icon into a political candidate. Edelman’s involvement is noted in the very first sentence:
In an attempt to put a smiley face on its tarnished image, Wal-Mart hires heavy-hitting public relations firm Edelman, which sets about using tactics derived from political races to reverse public perceptions of the giant retailer.
Wal-Mart is cited a total of six whopping times on the list, and the fourth (ranked #54) relates to the “Wal-Marting Across America” debacle; again, Edelman is cited.
Will these guys never catch a break? There’s a point at which you wonder whether having the billables from the client are worth the reputational hits it’s causing the agency; all the bad publicity Edelman has experienced has been generated by mistakes made on that one account.
Northwest Airlines’ suggestion in official collateral given to laid-off employees that they turn to dumpster diving came in at second place, and McDonalds came in third for distributing MP3 players in Japan, some of which included a Trojan horse that distributed sensitive computer information to hackers.
