One of the great things about this blog is that Rick gets pitched by lots of people and we tend to get some good scoops. Dave Frankland zapped this nice tidbit over to Rick today about Richard Edelman’s keynote at Syndicate 2006. Here’s the really interesting thing … the link to the PRWeek story yielded this:
Edelman keynote at Syndicate touches upon industry changes
NEW YORK: Edelman CEO Richard Edelman, facing an audience at the 2006 Syndicate Conference in New York City that has traditionally been hostile to PR professionals, launched into a discussion of how blogs and other new media are changing the business.
From the PRWeek website … that’s all folks.
Oh man. Man oh man. Edelman, I think, gets the blogosphere, but PRWeek doesn’t. Check out his own blog post on his keynote. He also links to David Weinberger’s live blogging of the keynote (I love live conference blogging … it’s fun, it’s exciting, and it helps get the great messages and quotable quotes out there as soon as the speaker has said them), which I have yet to pour over … but I am looking forward to reading asap.
In Richard Edelman’s post and the snippets I read in the PRWeek article (because Dave forwarded it to Rick), it’s clear the PR folks have to change tactics to adapt to the new communications and media realities. I’m not saying that bloggers are all powerful, what I’m saying is that bloggers can get a message out fast. That message can be good or bad. Things like PRWeek (and other publications) blocking off content behind the walled garden of subscribers only, yeah that doesn’t fly. It especially doesn’t fly when the article blocked is about a luminary of PR talking about how PR professionals have to adapt to the new blogosphere reality. Sheesh. I hope they open this article up to the world, because Edelman really says great stuff.
Let’s take how he described, and apologized for, Robert Scoble’s recent experience with PR people:
Microsoft employee and blogger Robert Scoble, who was scheduled to interview Edelman for the keynote, has experienced a family emergency, which he wrote about on his blog. Despite broadcasting his tragedy, he noted in a follow-up post that he was still receiving PR pitches since he wrote about his family’s situation.
Scoble could not attend, but, sent a question asking why PR people, who presumably value his opinion enough to have read his blog, were still sending him product pitches while he was facing tragedy.
“On behalf the PR field, I apologize to Robert for the misbehavior and tell you that there is a better way,” Edelman said.
[snip]
“A lot of PR people regard blogs as another form of the mainstream media to be pitched,” Edelman said. “Our methodology has traditionally been to throw out 1,000 flowers and one might bloom. That’s not the way to interact with the blogosphere.”
That’s good, that’s smart. Robert, though, really hits the nail on the head:
But, in today’s world of search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Technorati, Feedster, and others, it just isn’t good to be clued out. —Scoble
Edelman also “gets” how blogger love to get sneak peaks at stuff … oh do we love it.
“Our great triumphs are persuading clients to show beta versions of products to bloggers months in advance of actual product launch,” Edelman said. “By the time we started talking to the MSM [mainstream media], we had some momentum.”
That’s totally it. I’ve been apart of a few beta tests recently (Ether for example) where after the beta period (and bloggers are among the testers), we were asked for our feedback and if we wished to be included in press materials. Smart, very smart. Hey, we’re interested in your opinion and would you like to be included in stuff to get you some attention. Hmm, umm, yes!
Richard Edelman knows that the PR world is changing. PR folks can’t just spin and massage the message any more. They have to deal with citizen journalists, bloggers, and just plain everyone. It’s going to take a while before blogger stop getting e-mail pitches out of the blue, but here’s to hoping.
Tags: Richard Edelman, Syndicate Conference, Robert Scoble, PR
http://ubiquitousmarketing.typepad.com/ubiquitous_marketing/2006/week20/index.html
http://www.mguerrilla.com/media_guerrilla/2006/05/richard_edelman.html
Comment by Keith — May 24, 2006 @ 7:34 pm
[…] Richard Edelman might get ths blogosphere … but PRWeek doesn’t. From the article: Things like PRWeek (and other publications) blocking off content behind the walled garden of subscribers only, yeah that doesn’t fly. It especially doesn’t fly when the article blocked is about a luminary of PR talking about how PR (tags: pr publicity advertising blogosphere) […]
Pingback by Practical Blogging — May 24, 2006 @ 11:24 pm
Great recap, Tris. Good details and analysis.
The part I disagree with is:
“Things like PRWeek (and other publications) blocking off content behind the walled garden of subscribers only, yeah that doesn’t fly.”
Newspapers and magazines are facing a tough struggle to generate revenue, while balancing their print and online editions. I have no problem with PRW offering its stories only to subscribers. Otherwise, the only way it’ll make money off of its site is by selling ads.
Mike
Comment by Mike Driehorst — May 26, 2006 @ 12:15 pm
Welcome to the “Brave New World” Mike.
Comment by Jim Turner — May 30, 2006 @ 1:37 pm
Jim: Guess thanks for the welcome, but not sure if there was some sarcasm in your comment (I’m slow at times).
1) I don’t think all media outlets can live by ad revenue alone. Media should have multiple revenues to survive. The more media choices there are, the fewer ad $$ per outlet, so it’ll dry up fast. It’s up to the customers and prospects to determine if the value the media offers is worth the price.
2) The notion that everything on the WWW is — or should be — free needs to stop. There is no rule for that; it’s just a faulty belief that has been around since the WWW became so open to the masses.
Mike
Comment by Mike Driehorst — May 30, 2006 @ 1:45 pm
Sorry Mike, yes welcome, and yes I was being a little sarcastic. I do agree MSM is going to have to find a way to monetize their content to keep up with the ever changing demands brought on by the “free WWW”. I think you are seeing some of this positioning now with the introduction of some of the legislation to make things more difficult to offer for free.
Comment by Jim Turner — May 30, 2006 @ 4:29 pm
Some content will be open source. Here is one example of how it can work. Podcasting is beginning to supplement the marketing efforts of many marketers. Just as with any emerging technology, we are going to find new ways of using the “next new thingâ€? every day! One example: I just found out about the way a press release distribution service (www.prweb.com) taking podcasting to new places. This was inevitable! “Podding” may be a fairly “new waveâ€? marketing tool, but it’s already it’s evolving new mutant strains. PRWeb has just become the first ever provider of “open source” pod content. It’s done under something called a Creative Commons license—and it rocks! Take any of the podcasts they make available and slice ‘em, dice ‘em, stir ‘em, shake ‘em… do anything you want with the content. Make it your own. You can string podcast interviews together to make a news program, add a podcast to a Power Point, add music to the audio, insert your own comments, use the podcast as the soundtrack to a video… it’s all their for you to play with… and it’s free. Check it out at http://prweb.com/. Look for:
â€?PRWeb Podcasting Creates More Visibility…” We can all have fun with this.
Comment by Mark Alan Effinger — June 1, 2006 @ 11:09 pm
PRWeb may be just ahead of the curve on using open source technology to make online visibilty easier and less costly. Innovation is changing all of the rules of the PR game now that PR has come online. It’s not just for pocasting, either. I just saw this (http://java.sys-con.com/read/170146.htm) about how they are using the same idea for distributing photo images. Has anyone tried this yet? I ‘d be interested in learning how well it works. I haven’t seen so much talk about open source since the buzz around Linux.
Comment by Martin Grossman — June 25, 2006 @ 12:54 am
You have summed up the emerging situation very well: “… the PR world is changing. PR folks can’t just spin and massage the message any more. They have to deal with citizen journalists, bloggers, and just plain everyone. It’s going to take a while before blogger stop getting e-mail pitches out of the blue, but here’s to hoping.”
Comment by J S Sai — July 24, 2006 @ 9:48 am
Edelman understand the Blogosphere? you must be smoking PR crack. Take a look at today’s Technorati. Thousands and thousands of bloggers are chiming in on the Walmart/Young fiasco. Check out my op-ed in today’s odwyerpr.com. It’s the lead guest commentary.
Comment by James Bruni — August 22, 2006 @ 6:59 pm