Wal-Mart PR Guru Passes The Buck

Wal-Mart blog pro Steve Rubel is happy to dish out advice and criticism to companies that stumble in the blogosphere—as long as they’re not his own clients:

Rubel on Dell:

At a minimum, if Dell were serious about using their blog as “an online meeting place where we welcome our customers around the globe…one at a time” (their words, not mine), then it would have been great if they started with one of their most outspoken critics.  A blog interview with Jarvis would have said reams about their willingness to be open to criticism. Instead, the Dell blog reads like a corporate brochure.

Rubel on Staples:

A small blogstorm is brewing over a report on Boing Boing that Staples charges a $2.49 fee for virus scanning any media that you hand over to them to print out, even if you’re making one copy. So, let’s play Madden 2006, blog style. What should Staples do? Run (be scared), pass (send it off to PR to worry), kick (try somehow to shut this down) or punt (let it be someone else’s problem). The answer, in my view at least, is to call an audible. This isn’t just a small blog calling Staples out, it’s el numero uno.

Rubel on Kryptonite:

Kryptonite, one of the leading manufacturers of bicycle locks, is in the PR fight of its life thanks to some enterprising bloggers who figured out how to pick the locks using just a ballpoint pen… The takeaway is simple - pay attention. Stay on top of everything that’s being said about your client, their competition and their industries. Those who fail to listen will eventually struggle to be heard. Judging by Kryptonite’s official response, it sure sounds like the company failed to take the blogosphere seriously. I bet they are sorry now.

Rubel on transparency:

Josh Mankiewicz with Dateline NBC has a piece this week that looks at how corporations are beginning to engage in the blogosphere as a marketing vehicle. The purists might disagree with me, but I don’t think that the long-time residents of the blogosphere object to our increasing presence. As long as marketers play their A-game, consistently add value and remain transparent to their intentions, I feel we’ll be welcome.

Rubel on mea culpas:

I like companies and products that have the guts to say “we suck” or something close to it. It’s very un PR. It says to me, “hey, we want a best of breed product and we’re going to work our butts off to give it to you.” Now that conversation is king it’s critical that companies begin to have these honest discussions with their customers and do it out in the open. Whether they will is another story entirely.

Rubel on paid bloggers:

The key question I have at this stage with this and any such program that compensates a blogger is: where is the transparency? It seems like there’s more to know - e.g. what level of control will CMT have over Nelson’s postings.

Rubel on Edelman’s Wal-Mart blog fiasco:

I had no personal role in this project. There is a process in place that I had to let proceed through its course. This is why it took some time.

Posted by Media Team on Monday, October 16, 2006

Click Here for a Printer-Friendly Version

COMMENTS

WALMART JONQUIERE QUEBEC
FOREVER THE HOME OF WALMART WORKER ABUSE.

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Tuesday, October 17 at 03:24 AM

On Rubel--

We are tired of the Wal Mart excuses, denials, and rules. For once could they have more Substance and Less Profiles.  The company that never does anything wrong.  Isn’t it time they waste less money on covering up their blunders and bad decisions and more time on fixing the issues that bring the company to all time new lows.

agami in redmond wa
Tuesday, October 17 at 04:54 AM

Remember Jonquiere

The place where the union intimidated employees who did not want to join the union.  As a result, after repeated attempts to unionize, they were finally able to get the vote to pass, 51% to 49%.  The majority suffered for the minority.

Alex will claim this is fiction, but the story can be found in the Washington Post by Googling Jonquiere.

Another Bob in
Tuesday, October 17 at 06:22 AM

THAT REMINDS ME...

GET OVER IT, “Another Bob in!” That’s what all the sanctimonious Republicans were saying to the rest of us after the elections in 2000 and 2004.  Get over it!

51% IS a majority.  If the vote passed, it passed!

After 8 years of being BUSH-whacked in this country, maybe you can relate.  Nevermind that this month we’ve had record numbers of our young servicemen (and women) die in Iraq.  Nevermind that record numbers of Iraqi citizens are being killed by other Iraqis, our “fearless leader” says we have to “STAY THE COURSE.”

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, in America
Tuesday, October 17 at 10:33 AM

Reply to “Another Bob in”:
Remember Jonquiere, the place where Wal Mart thugs repeatedly intimidated their employees and then took away their employment.
Wal Mart alone made the decision to close. There are no union members sitting on the Board of Directors in Bentonville.

You criticized their election. What about the presidential election? The brother of candidate Bush is the governor of Florida, the only state with the deciding vote in a very close race. Using paper “chads” they eventually rig the election for a Republican win. The majority have since suffered for the minority.

I know you will claim this is all fiction, but what can you expect from a citizen who will give away his freedoms for a tank of cheap gasoline?

As for Steve Rubel, he’d fit right in with Someone, Mags, Richard K and Bob in since he feels qualified to tell others what to do and try to pass that off as being intelligent. I can’t wait to read their desperate replies attempting to slam me.

Steve Rubel’s own words show him to be the hypocrite that best personifies Wal Mart. They should use his face instead of the Smiley that they stole.

Dick K in
Tuesday, October 17 at 10:51 AM

Screwed or Tom, if you prefer.

Tell Alex to get over it.  He is the one that keeps bringing up Jonquiere.  If, you would check the Washington Post article, you will find that it was not a secret ballot and some employees were intimidated into voting for the union.  It would never have passed, if the union had not intimidated the employees.

Remember Jonquiere where more union injustice took place.

Another Bob in
Tuesday, October 17 at 07:32 PM

Call Goes Out for Edelman and Rubel to Resign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK – Popular PR industry trade journal Strumpette today declared Richard Edelman and Steve Rubel to be “enemies of the blogosphere,” and demanded their immediate resignations.

“To live up to its premise, to fulfill its promise, the Me2Revolution must be prepared from time to time to correct its course,” declared Amanda Chapel, managing editor of Strumpette. “Richard Edelman and Steve Rubel have committed numerous acts of abject betrayal that, under any revolution worth the name, would have resulted in their execution in the public square. Edelman and Rubel hurt us, hurt blogging, and hurt PR as a whole. “\

http://www.strumpette.com/archives/206-Call-Goes-Out-for-Edelman-and-Rubel-to-Resign.html

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