October 2006 – Page 2

Companies that don’t “get” the web

Stationsvakt writes about Coop and its out-dated linking policy in which the company wants to control the style and typeface of any incoming links to its website. I can’t even manage to write something sarcastic about this attitude. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very hard to find other examples of silly linking policies (In Swedish, sorry) where companies demand that you seek their written consent prior to any linking.

ACNielsen:
Länkar kan endast ha formen av text och får endast ha beteckningen “ACNielsen.”

Meca, a retailer in automotive parts:
Länkning till Meca.se får endast ske efter Meca Scandinavia AB:s föregående skriftliga medgivande.

TT-Line, the ferry-service company:
Länkning till dessa sidor får endast göras efter godkännande från TT-Line.

(TT-Line should consider tidying up their website. The Dutch, French and German versions all link to the German domain, but in English.)

Update 31 Oct: Coop have now updated their link policy. Via Fyra nyanser av brunt.

Tags: policies, links, internet, webben. Ping.

Wikipedia in top ten Google results for Sweden’s top brands

If you have an idea for a blog post, don’t sit on it for a month because if it’s a good idea, some other blogger will post before you do. A month ago I planned to do a similar study that Steve Rubel did regarding the largest advertisers and how high Wikipedia entries rank in the Google search results. I did the search but I just haven’t come around to publish it.

So instead I suggest that you have a look at Richard Gatarski’s very thorough investigation and report (in Swedish) that he published yesterday. He has done a good job and checked the 60 largest advertisers in Sweden and on average, Wikipedia entries came up before the company website. The average Google rank for Wikipedia articles was 9, which means they are in the important top ten results. For Coca-Cola, Hennes & Mauritz och Biersdorf, Wikipedia articles are as high as #1.

My results pointed in the same direction. I checked Sweden’s ten largest advertisers during Jan-June 2006 and 6 out of 10 are in the top ten results [search performed on Sept 17].

Unilever 7
Telia 14
KF 8
Ica 8
Volkswagen 16 (Volkswagen Beetle 14)
Volvo 7
Cosmetique France – (L’Oréal 7)
Viasat 14 (Viasat Sport 10)
Föreningssparbanken 11
Tre 28

[Found via Mymarkup.]

Tags: wikipedia, brands, Google, Coca-Cola, reklam, wiki. Ping.

Edelman PR in fake blog controversy

PR agency Edelman has been under intense fire the last few days for being involved in a pro-Wal-Mart blog, but not being open about who the sponsor is. MediaPost writes about the blog called “Wal-Marting Across America”:

“The blog, launched Sept. 27, was profiled in this week’s issue of BusinessWeek, which exposed the site as a promotional tactic engineered by Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFWM), an organization launched by Wal-Mart’s public relations firm Edelman. WFWM paid for the RV [Recreational Vehicle ]and all travel expenses, rerouted the trip’s original plan, and plastered a logo on the RV’s side. Though a banner ad announced WFWM sponsored the site, it did not divulge Wal-Mart paid for the couple’s RV, gas, food and other expenses.”

It took a few days until Richard Edelman responded with an apology.

“I want to acknowledge our error in failing to be transparent about the identity of the two bloggers from the outset. This is 100% our responsibility and our error; not the client’s.”

Constantin Basturea has a good set of comments from the PR blogosphere. See also Kevin O’Keefe.

[Cartoon: courtesy of Gaping Void.]

We’re not quite there yet

Gotlands Allehanda asks five locals if they read blogs.

Yes.
Seldom.
No.
No.
No.

What a fantastic potential for growth!

Footnote: The woman from Solna is disqualified 🙂

Tags: blogs, Sweden, Gotland, bloggar. Ping.

Attention is dead (or, not feeling well), long live Attention

Swedish business magazine Att:ention will be integrated with Veckans Affärer and only be published twice a year. But Attention, the member magazine for the association of people with neurophysiological functional disorders, is still alive and kicking.

Tags: media, magazines, attention, media. Ping.

Sweden’s Minister for Trade brought down by blogger

“Den dagen bloggar fäller en riksdagsledamot eller minister är bloggen etablerad”. Johan Norberg, Bloggforum 2004.

“The day blogs bring down a member of the parliament (Riksdag) or a Minister, then the blog has become established”. Johan Norberg, Bloggforum 2004.

That day is today. Sweden’s new Minister for Trade, Maria Borelius, today resigned, after a series of negative articles that took off after a blogger, Magnus Ljungkvist, revealed some startling facts about her and her husband’s income during the 90’s. Borelius only lasted a record short period of 8 days as Minister.

Background to the story here and for example here.

Update: Aftonbladet gives Magnus the recognition he deserves. Expressen still pretend it’s their gig.