It's the kind of online message that should make senior PR execs
wince. All they need to do is substitute their own company's
product and/or service with the following Web posting that rails
against how easy it is to break into the bicycle U-Locks marketed
by Kryptonite (Canton, Mass.):
"This has to be the most absurd thing I've ever seen. Try it.
Take the end off the pen, jam it in the lock, wiggle around and
twist," says the message, which originally posted Sept. 12, 2004,
on http://www.bikeforum.net
and quickly spread throughout the blogosphere. "You've got to be
kidding me - most people consider these the standard for locking
up. And it's a BALL POINT PEN that can break them open!? I will be
on the phone with Kryptonite locks first thing tomorrow
morning."
The lock manufacturer was contacted on a Friday in
mid-September. A week later, it issued a press release on
Business Wire that put in motion a worldwide exchange
program that, to date, has returned nearly 40,000 of the U-Locks at
an estimated cost of $10 million.
In a world where blogs can bring down the likes of CBS'
Dan Rather and CNN's Eason Jordan, Kryptonite was decidedly
behind the eight ball. As the Sifry's Alerts blog pointed
out last October, Kryptonite "could have helped to avert a major PR
problem if they had reacted quickly and offered a recall or a fix
before the news had broken in mainstream media, with major mentions
in the New York Times and Boston Globe," among
others.
Asked if the company initially was notified by a blogger about
the product defect, Donna Tocci, PR manager at Kryptonite, tells
PR News her company does not discuss specific individual
communications. She adds, however, that in organizing the recall,
Kryptonite had to make sure all of its vendors were abreast of the
situation, and it could not afford to jump the gun.
"The bigger PR nightmare would have been to release information
about a lock-exchange program and not be able to back it up," she
says, adding that the company has been in constant contact with the
media about the exchange program. The Boston Herald, the
New York Times and the Seattle Times as well as
several network affiliates throughout the country have run items
about the exchange program.
Still, the damage to Kryptonite has been done (the recall topped
the list of Business 2.0's 2004 list of the "101 Dumbest
Moments in Business"), and the episode makes a strong case that the
blogosphere may be starting to change the very nature of PR and
corporate communications.
Kryptonite executives "stuck their heads in the sand and looked
like they were clueless and stonewalling," says Debbie Weil, an
online marketing and business-blogging consultant (Washington,
D.C.) whose clients include Brandeis University,
Hewlett-Packard and the National Institute of Business
Management. "The No. 1 way not to get burned is to listen to
the blogosphere and what the conversations are about your company,
product or brand. The idea is if you monitor blogs, you can
proactively pick up on [information] you should be hearing about
your company."
Morgan McLintic, vp of San Francisco-based Lewis PR,
adds: "Regardless of the speed of Kryptonite's response, this shows
the impact that one individual can have -- communicating with other
consumers -- that can lead to a product recall."
The blogosphere, however, works both ways. More and more C-level
executives have started to write their own blogs to help to
humanize their companies - something a press release can rarely (if
ever) do.
Indeed, the incredible surge in blogs in recent months is
convincing companies of the power of interactive media, not to
mention myriad online and digital vehicles now in the nascent stage
that PR execs must explore. "If you have a corporate blog you have
a direct channel to the public and have the ability to challenge
what's being said about your company. Therefore, the public is less
likely to think it's being hoodwinked," McLintic says.
Persuading top managers to start their own blogs can, if
executed correctly, bring transparency, honesty and immediacy in an
informal format. But buyers beware. "Blogging is not for everyone,"
Weil adds. "You have to find the right [executive] who can write
well and communicate effectively, whereas most of corporate America
can't even write a coherent memo." That, of course, begs companies
to create strict guidelines so employees - from the top down -
won't compromise the company with the information they include in
their blogs.
But while some forward-thinking executives have started their
own blogs, many companies apparently still are skittish about how
to capitalize on the Web. A Burson- Marsteller audit of 300+
companies covered by top-tier media, for example, reveals that when
facing a crisis, 59% of the companies gave some sort of response,
including a press release, while 41% didn't respond at all.
"Corporate Web sites are not being used to their full capacity,
in terms of breaking them down into silos that can address crises
or other issues," says Idil Cakim, director/knowledge development
at Burson-Marsteller, adding that a growing number of Burson's
clients are inquiring about blogs. "There are so many things a
company can do with the Web and use these various platforms to
solicit feedback and check the pulse of stakeholders."
Corporate America, when facing a new frontier, can sometimes
move at a glacial pace. But as the Kryptonite fiasco demonstrates,
companies may have to move with a good deal more alacrity when it
comes to the Web. Reid Conrad, CEO of Near-Time Inc. (Chapel
Hill, N.C.), which markets software to improve such online
communications as blogs and RSS (really simple syndication)
content, says the current user base for his latest software is 60%
business, 30% academic and 10% consumers/individuals.
Bob Geller, senior VP for Fusion PR (New York) who
represents Near-Time, says such software "pulls people in rather
than the push of an e-mail press release. The press release is the
party line. A blog presents an informal vision, and we as PR execs
have to help companies master those types of messages."
Contacts: Idil Cakim, 212.614.5101, idil_cakim@nyc.bm.com; Bob
Geller, 212.651.4224, bob.geller@fusionpr.com;
Morgan McLintic, 415.277.5464, morganm@lewispr.com; Donna Tocci,
781.828.6655 x268, donna_tocci@rico.com; Reid
Conrad, 919.612.8003, reid@Near-time.com; Debbie Weil,
202.364.5705, wordbiz@gmail.com