A rant about the ConAgra/Ketchum debacle…
*Disclaimer: This is the opinion of Geoffrey Colon and not any agencies or clients that I represented in the past, currently represent or will represent in the future.
In the past many of my rants have been about the stupidity of the music industry. Those who know my history know that I predicted the rise of Napster, MP3 technology, digital distribution and the collapse of the industry and the prevailing format which was the CD for a digital solution playable on many pieces of hardware.
Of course, I never was hired by a major label, was seen as too innovative for most of the fat suits that ruled that industry (I thought V2 and Richard Branson should have purchased Napster in 1999 which got me in trouble with the President who wanted to sue them not knowing what the technology even meant) and pretty much was very happy in 2002 when I traded in my A&R credentials for brand marketing. The industry has plummeted with music clouds and Spotify doing little to help revive it.
Now I’ve cut my teeth the past 11 years in a variety of brand/music integration, experiential marketing and was early on in Digital Word of Mouth and community management. And I must say, the recent ConAgra/Ketchum debacle has to be the dumbest thing I have ever witnessed in the past six years. For those who don’t know the story, Ketchum PR brought in some bloggers to a third-party site and told them they would be getting lasagna served to them by a high-class chef. Instead they were fed frozen, ready to cook lasagna.
First, let me just say that the thing that makes many social media strategists upset about this recent controversy is the fact that big brands and big agencies seem to have a lack of foresight and vision that it’s not 2005 anymore. In the past several years, brands don’t hold the keys to the car. Nor do PR agencies. Regardless of what their self-inflated egos tell them, the “consumer” and their conduits (in this case “bloggers”) have the control. If brands and agencies could do as those fat suits were unwilling to do in 1999 at the major labels and just adapt their marketing model, they would never have egg on their face. But many seem stuck in this “amplify at all costs” with “viral pass along videos for the masses model” which is what gets them into trouble in the world of social.
Second, this is an idea that never would have made it out of a brainstorm phase at any credible agency. It would have gone through all the “checks and balances” in terms of liabilities, legalities and moralities that agencies should provide to help shield their clients from potential blowback. I’m embarrassed for what happened from Ketchum’s perspective. They now have a lot of explaining to do to their roster of clients.
Third, how are people who have been at an agency for 11 years with no real social experience at a VP level put in charge of such a campaign? Or the better question, is why did they greenlight it in the first place? If I were the agency, I’d re-assign the person who was in charge to non-social media duties. I’ve done much less in the past that got me in trouble (like mailing prizing to bloggers without stating the FTC rules). This recent story made the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Gawker and has been passed along all over Twitter. You can do all the PR in the world but every new business pitch the agency does in the “social” realm will be met with resistance.
Finally, I realize many PR agencies are trying to ramp up their social media and digital word of mouth practice but maybe they should start where it matters, by actually hiring individuals who can help them in this area. I say this as a person who has worked at three digital agencies and has always felt the scorn from traditional PR agencies from potential clients during the RFP process and from clients who always wanted social to act like PR when it should not be handled that way whatsoever. PR agencies have a tendency of treating bloggers as simple amplifiers who will help them “blast loudly” through their PA loudspeaker what they want the mass audience to hear. They seem to not understand that social media is a niche tool, a microscope and not a loudspeaker. And that bloggers are real people unlike paid journalists. Many bloggers don’t like to be “in” on a “gotcha” video concept dating back to the 70s and certainly don’t like to be misrepresented or misrepresent their readers. How a “PR” agency didn’t understand this in 2011 makes me cringe.
I’m sure some people in PR will read this and say, “this guy doesn’t get what PR does and he should never be hired to work for our PR agency in the digital realm!”
But someone smarter would look at what I’m saying like a hacker is looked upon by corporate IT security. IT hires the hacker that got through their system because they know what questions to ask. PR agencies should do the same and hire digital and social consultants who have expertise in this area. Sometimes it’s important to have someone on the team that can look at every item from a 360 degree perspective. It’s not simply about the results and the impressions anymore.
So better solutions? Possibly something more unique is passing up bloggers altogether and inviting real people to partake in a taste test, rate it and post the findings on Facebook. There are positive ways to drum up publicity for sodium-filled food.
Going direct to the masses is what brands have to do. This is something PR agencies have no experience in but could be helped by social experts to usher in a new era. Just like record labels mean nothing in 2011, we could be saying the same thing of PR agencies in the next five years. They’ll have to hurry to catch up. Consumers hold the keys to the car and it’s accelerating and quickly leaving behind their traditional amplification methods in the rear-view mirror. - GC
