:: adgruntie :: Importance of transparency

+ BrandRepublic reports that PR crises loom for firms that fail to 'respect' bloggers. And what do ya know? AdLand is listed as one of best three in the marketing and advertising sector in a study by global PR agency Edelman and market research firm and blog portal provider Intelliseek. The study says firms that become aggressive towards bloggers or attempt to ignore their comments are facing a losing battle.

Instead the report, called 'Trust MEDia... How Real People are Finally Being Heard', urges firms "to respond quickly, with the facts and with respect" to unfavourable comments made on blogs. Above all, firms should never lie because "those in the 'blogosphere' will find out and humiliate you".

Key blunders by firms include making unfounded criticism against bloggers, pretending to be someone you are not and paying people to write kind things about your firm.
[...snip...]
Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer at Intelliseek, said: "Mazda totally ignored the importance of transparency. Corporate blogs are OK, but they must be labelled and identified as such. Bloggers are savvy, inherently sceptical, defensive of their medium and able to sniff out imposters quickly."

Right on Pete. So very correct on that one. And yay for AdLand. :) V. nice.