Communication Overtones Comments
Appears to be yet another example of how PRSA/PRWeek/etc. are out of touch with the marketplace these days. If they're smart, they read your blog and will learn. Thanks for pointing this out.
Maybe somebody can send a copy of Seth Godin's "Meatball Sundae" to both PR Week and Pepperidge Farms.
It's good to see companies want to embrace new media, but they should be more careful about how they take their first steps into this world.
Kids start crawling before they can walk 
Wow! This sounds very similar to the 'Cookies for Santa' brochure/social media site I recieved from an ad agency before Christmas (posted on CA). No clue. Where is the effort to understand social media then practice?
Good point of view. I saw this but hadn't taken the time to look into it and hadn't considered it as advertising in disguise.
good post! PR Week generally misses the boat on social media, WOM, and anything interactive IMO.
PR firms are struggling to understand social media, but ad agencies are clueless - still trying to force messages on us. only now they disguise them as social media, and force messages on us.
Unfortunately, the wolves are smelling the money and are coming out of the woodwork. The same article quoted a Jupiter Research study that scarily found that:
- 50 percent of marketers say they will target social networking sites this year
- 48 percent will deploy marketing on social media channels (compared to 38 percent last year)
And there will be more advertising too, with eMarketer saying that ad spending is expected to total $1.2 billion in 2008 and grow to $1.9 billion in 2008.
As Dove's ad campaign so aptly put it, the onslaught is coming (sorry, couldn't help myself)
If agencies are clueless (or pretend to be), then clients need to get smart -- they, after all, are in charge (entrusted?) with the brand, aren't they? Push back, learn about social media... wait, that's almost like saying learn about having real conversations with people. Ok maybe that was a bit cheeky.
Valeria; I appreciate that you brought this up and you are spot on. In my mind Pepperidge Farm has just as much to do with this as those that sold this to them. I am just concerned by the overall rush to call everything social media.
Social media aside - we've all seen this before - the bigger issue, I agree with Kami, is Pepperidge. PR news is getting it right re the market but the companies aren't getting the correct information / understanding of how to engage. We communicators need to do our jobs better and get the word out, again and again. Go all.
Renn; It is true that there is a lot of work to do, but I fear that some marketing, advertising and pr firms are just catering to what sells these days. Social media is hot and people are calling programs that even if they are not. That is deception, which is a bigger problem than education. I have no problem selling a big idea if it works. The Connecting with Cookies, and so many others, don't.
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