Consumers are fighting back against marketing

Being Reasonable has an interview with author Douglas Rushkoff that is well worth reading. Rushkoff talks about today’s media environment and invasive marketing:

“Companies are no longer treating their consumers as anything other than consumers. When buyers and sellers were living in the same community, they were dependent on each other in a way they aren’t anymore. One of my students was just pointing this out in class: If I am your deli man and you are my pharmacist, I have an incentive make you a great sandwich – not just because I want your business again, but because I need you healthy so that you fill my prescription properly! Companies today see their consumers as consumers only. As targets to be manipulated; wallets to be emptied. And people pick up on that, eventually.”

Podcast pioneer got Curried away with wiki

How is your company or brand described in Wikipedia? You don’t know, do you? But it’s just a question of time before communicators learn more about wikis and realize that they are important as a source of information about a brand, service or product. As they do, inevitably someone will misuse it.

Podcasting pioneer and former MTV veejay Adam Curry wanted to improve his role in the development of podcasting by anonymously edit the entry on the early history of podcasting, and giving himself a larger part.

What he didn’t know was that revisions are tracked and the IP addresses are logged, so the Wikipedia editors soon found out that someone from an address controlled by Curry had made four major revisions and axed vital parts of the text.

Now it seems that this story has made it into the Wikipedia entry about – Adam Curry. That’s poetic justice.

Rogers Cadenhead has the story and PR blogger Jeremy Pepper comments.

10 new rules of branding

Chief Marketer lists the 10 new rules of branding.

1) Brands that influence culture sell more; culture is the new catalyst for growth.
2) A brand with no point of view has no point; full-flavor branding is in, vanilla is out.
3) Today’s consumer is leading from the front; this is the smartest generation to have ever walked the planet.
4) Customize wherever and whenever you can; customization is tomorrow’s killer whale.
5) Forget the transaction, just give me an experience; the mandate is simple: Wow them every day, every way.
6) Deliver clarity at point of purchase; be obsessive about presentation.
7) You are only as good as your weakest link; do you know where you’re vulnerable?
8) Social responsibility is no longer an option; what’s your cause, what’s your contribution?
9) Pulse, pace, and passion really make a difference; had your heartbeat checked recently?
10) Innovation is the new boardroom favorite.

Hat tip to PR Machine.

Edelman the only top agency to beat Media Culpa

Media Orchard has tested SiteScore, a tool that rates how well-designed, popular and accessible a website is on a scale of 1 to 10. Media Orhard tested the eight largest PR agencies and how they ranked:

1. Edelman … 8.4
2. Porter Novelli … 8.0
3. Hill and Knowlton … 7.9
4. Ketchum … 7.5
5. Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide … 7.4
6. Weber Shandwick Worldwide … 7.2
7. Burson-Marsteller … 6.9
8. Fleishman-Hillard … 6.8

Naturally, I had to see how this blog rates in comparison and Media Culpa gets 8.0, so only Edelman is doing better.