Edelman In The News, Again…

When one of our competitors screws up I try to tread lightly on my blog. But I’ve received so many e-mails on the Edelman/Microsoft fiasco I thought I should post my point-of-view on the situation.

For those of you who shut your RSS readers off over the holidays, here’s the situation: Edelman is working with Microsoft on its Vista launch. In an attempt to influence on-line influencers, Edelman advised Microsoft to provide top bloggers with laptops running Vista Ultimate for their review.

Providing on-line influencers with review units is a great idea, in my view. Executed properly, it will demonstrate Microsoft’s confidence in Vista. It’s certain to generate buzz leading up to the official launch. And, Microsoft will get some feedback on Vista’s shortcomings that need to be addressed going forward.
Having said that, the program was very poorly executed by Edelman. The laptops showed up on the doorsteps of bloggers with ill-defined rules of engagement, if you will. Many of the bloggers felt they had received the $3,000 laptops as “gifts” and were not sure what to think or do. Thus, Vista reviews were replaced with debate on Edelman and Microsoft’s ethics.

All of this could have been avoided if Edelman had provided clear rules of engagement for bloggers and the review units. For instance:

The review units are to help you evaluate, document and demonstrate Windows Vista.
In return, we’d like you to publish your reviews, but that’s totally up to you.
Be certain and point out in your reviews that Microsoft provided you with a review unit.
You can keep the unit for up to 12 months at which time you should return the unit to us.

This seems like a totally transparent and above-the-board approach. It’s not rocket science. What do you think?

2 January 2007 | , Ethics | Comments

7 Responses to “Edelman In The News, Again…”

1 Jon Barkan 2 January 2007 @ 1:17 pm

Why must they kept getting in their own way and honestly, make people question the blogosphere and the digital world. Guess it goes to show that common sense isn’t so common anymore. Happy New Year!
2 Diane Silver 2 January 2007 @ 2:11 pm

Geez, seems like such a good idea gone bad. A little consistency — and clarity — around their communication would have gone a long way. Yeah, certainly not rocket science.
3 paul 2 January 2007 @ 7:15 pm

I’m a Microsoft Partner and software development blogger and I’m struck by the way Edelman has clotheslined Microsoft and left them out to dry on this one.
4 Angela Carmichael 2 January 2007 @ 7:57 pm

Classic example of a good PR idea gone bad on weak execution.
5 Tamara Derosia 2 January 2007 @ 10:06 pm

It is amazing how haphazard this execution was for such well-known brands and pricey pieces of equipment. Who signed off on this? After reading some of these posts from the targeted bloggers, many of whom were loyal Mac users, it seems like intent to gift to me. Perhaps inviting these people to participate in a trial run to test the product might have been a safer route…and a better opportunity for disclosure.
6 Peter Binazeski 3 January 2007 @ 3:52 pm

I only wish I received one of those notebooks. It would have come in handy. There’s a very interesting video from the New York Times Circuits section on how Vista is basically Max OSX - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDNuq94Zg_8.
7 Katie G 4 January 2007 @ 2:40 pm

Although unrelated…I got a kick out of the Times video produced (as always) by David Pogue. Amusing enough that I blogged about the video itself. Below you can access the video from my blog or from the direct link to the NYTimes video page.
Blog:
http://blog.myspace.com/klizagreen
Video:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=d14603c1e23e6ce37920a8134a2e27b1405a4991&rf=bm