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Edelman Agency- At Least Monkey Phone Calls are Ethical
In the last entry I trounced on Edelman Agency, Loren F. a bit and of course Chris for hammering me AND working at Edelman (3 months) the agency that gave us WalMart flogs- Chris and I have caught up via mail and folks we may have an interesting podcast/and or blog in store for you soon. (Tips hat to Chris)….
Meanwhile back at the batcave Edelman is at it again- with certain bloggers getting Acer Ferrari notebooks with Vista Ultimate installed. Bribe? Good? Bad?
B.L. Ochman has caught Edelman up again- is it a bribe?
Edelman, is handling the launch of the new Microsoft Vista OS, and they’re running, and probably also conceived, a campaign to give a group of bloggers free Acer Ferrari 1000 and 5000 notebooks loaded with Microsoft’s new Vista. Retail value - $1899.99 - $2,299.99 for the computer, plus the cost of the software.
A group of high-profile bloggers started getting the gifts several days ago. Robert Scoble quipped, “Talk about Pay Per Post.”
The reason is simple. If you’ve ever tried to add a new Microsoft OS to an existing computer, you know you can’t do that without totally fucking up your computer. The only way to switch to a new Microsoft OS is to start with a new computer. And, of course, to wait a year or two while they get the kinks out.
Microsoft wouldn’t chance having dozens of bloggers writing about how VISTA screwed up their computers, so they installed the system on brand new computers. They gave the computers as gifts instead of lending them to the bloggers for review, which is the norm when dealing with traditional journalists.
Nobody has reported turning down or planning to send back the gifts. Scott Beale at Laughing Squid is joyful about his windfall. Long Zheng calls it “a nice Christmas gift” Mitch Denny is “giddy” about his Ferrari. Who’ll be the first to wipe off Vista and use the new laptop with the relatively stable XP? And will he or she admit it? Don’t count on it.
Scoble “Talk about Pay Per Post.” . OK I confess I sent Scoble a gift- a Monkey Phone Call. In short you pay a dude ten bucks, he calls someone up and screams like a monkey- really- I am not kidding- I mean screams, great service and highly in demand. I offered one to Steve Rubel, via Linked IN too (Robert said he wouldn’t appreciate it- so much for micropersuasion) to cheer him up over the Walmart thing. The guy seemed morose and I liked him. I offered him $10.00 to get himself one, or I would buy him one (I have his digits anyway.) Blank. Way to treat a client. Zero response. I failed in persuasing on a micro level. Then again maybe he had nothing to do with it…maybe it is the dark arts division or something…
Here’s the plot summary: Yesterday on the Weekly Insight Podcast, there was a discussion of a Monkey Phone Call that Microsoft MVP and Google VIP Wayne Porter had sent my way. He then hatched the plan to send one to Robert Scoble because we were discussing LinkedIn and I brought up Scoble’s infamous post on his hatred of that platform. The rest follows from that. You have to read this for yourself (Ender’s Game meets On the Road).
Yes. I did it. It was not a hoax. I spent ten bucks on a Monkey Phone Call as an experiment- not out of spite. Waste of his time. That’s ok- fair. It wasn’t a loaded Acer Ferrari notebook with Vista Ultimate. Now I know how to reach out next time for interesting conversation- hit Doc Searls who knows what it is or get Robert a big screen TV…
So it is clear- from the original post:
I did give Scobel a call back to see what he thought, afterall I did bushwhack him. He told me he tried to leave a comment here, but i required registration on the personal blog so he left or maybe I had comments off- don’t recall. (Scoble was that you that hit my cell with the private number yesterday- sorry I missed it- i was hoping you would retaliate with something- like parking a rusted trailer in my driveway.)
I asked him if it was “ok” to divulge his reaction and he was a good sport and said sure- it was something like: “I hung up on it”. He didn’t find it amusing, and a waste of his time- so he missed the incredible tip I left at the end. I didn’t bother discussing the Long Tail (yes Mark most might need OPM but not all.) and all that although I mentioned that Doc Searls has been up on SM2C technology for about five years now- still working sans RSS! Robert if I could somehow integrate RSS into the thing would it have been better? How about on demand? Streamed into Second Life? I could do that. Heck- it should be a part of the Cluetrain Manifesto- in spirit it is.
Many know I despise the A,B,C BS caste system some have put out there or we find it convenient to refer to. Training from school I guess. People are not letters- they are people- humans. I admit some are far better, more influential, more interesting, more hip, etc in their area of experise, but they are people. Non are perect, certainly not I. Gosh would it be tough to turn down a new screaming laptop (not for me man- I’d blow it up or give it to charity and Monkey Phone Call the hell out of Edelman.). Let’s not forget that. What would you do? Would you ask…
- Is it ethical?
- Is it a bribe?
- Is the price tag a bit high? If so- how much?
- Does this tarnish the blogger’s image?
- Any different than a product sample?
- How about perks for an affiliate?
- Where do you draw the line?
- Should we cast judgement?
Edelman, as far as I am concerned, is a company lacking a moral compass. I am sorry for the people of integrity that work there- you can’t lump everyone together. Here it is up to each individual blogger to decide what to do, but I do have my own suggestions…Tough one for me- I am a Microsoft Security MVP (now I am regretting redeeming the $150 worth of old games at their store)- worse yet Edelman is the agency for a company I work at. Now our Edelman lady is nice, never anything unethical from her I have seen. Professional to the hilt. But the company- sucks- actions not words. I have no choice but talk to my superiors about the actions of our agency. It is my duty.
To the A-list or Acer-List
It is your life and now your laptop- personally Monkey Phone Calls are easier, cheaper, funnier, with no tax complications, image problems or integrity foul-ups.
Some ideas….
a) Keep it and I hope you sleep ok.
b) Keep it and reformat it with Ubuntu.
c) Send it to a school or a needy child, or someone in real need, *after* removing the O/S and putting another build on it.
d) Send it to me and I will personally shoot it full of holes with an AK-47 (and whatever else is laying around- this is the south, assortment is rich.) and film it for the web- perhaps get Schmule to do a commentary. I will then mail what remains to Edelman and also send them a Monkey Phone Call. This is a 14 day offer.
A waste of a good machine- yes, but machines are replaceable, merely machines- ethics are not as easy to replace- or rebuild.
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