In one business day, Scott Monty showed us why companies still own their brand, why PR still matters, and why he’s a top notch social media strategist.
TheRangerStation.com, a 10 year old fan site for Ford Ranger owners and enthusiasts, had been selling unliscenced Ford merchandise with the Ford logo on it. This caught the attention of the Ford legal team who promptly sent TheRangerStation a cease and desist letter. When TheRangerStation’s owner went public about the letter, chaos began to ensue as the owner conveniently omitted the fact that he had been selling counterfeited material. This began a backlash from many online where they bought into the idea that the little guy was being knocked around by the huge company.
Scott asked his many followers on Twitter to hold off judgment. He had established credibility with many over his active years in social media, and many did hold off. When Scott then divulged that the site owner had been selling counterfeited items, the attacks began to recede. He and the legal team used normal conversational explanations to tell all of us what the reality was.
For a better and deeper explanations, Shel Israel has a great post here and John Bell has one here. Or you may want to take a look at this presentation by Ron Ploof.
Besides the fact that this shows me that Scott Monty is a top notch professional, it shows me several other things.
Companies are still in control of their brand. As they should be.
I’ve always thought the declaration that companies are not in control of their brand anymore was relative nonsense. While it’s true that absolute control is nevermore, the nexus remains within the companies that produce the brand. And while there will be missteps and outright boneheaded mistakes, social media won’t change that.
What social media does is allow consumers to have greater affect on the brand and it allows companies to redefine the brand to this new reality.
Will there be exceptions? Of course. But relatively small faux pas will pass, especially within our 24 hour news cycle.
Public relations is still a very much needed profession.
I reread The Cluetrain Manifesto over the past couple of days and began to grimace over Rick Levine’s over hyped trashing of PR. He was proved wrong on a larger level – it takes professionals who know what they’re doing to forestall a fiasco like this. Therefore PR is needed. Levine was correct though in how it should be carried out. First you build trust and then you tell your side if need be. What Levine didn’t get is that it’s PR’s role to do just that. A ton of PR people in PR aren’t the snake oil salesmen like the way he describes.
Online relationships matter. Trust and integrity is essential and carry influence.
The reason Scott Monty was able to hold off the lynch crowds the way he did was because he had built up the credibiity that’s needed to work with followers on Twitter to friends on Facebook and to colleagues overall. It most certainly was not mostly about Ford. How we carry ourselves online is what we become in the perception of others. Scott’s acting as a conduit between legal and different online communities should be a great case study for years to come. For both those of us in online marketing AND legal departments.
