Brand Protect
Frankie sent me this one, and I find it interesting. It is a company which promises to help brands deal with the risks, dangers, copyright abuses, and attacks of web 2.0 - bloggers, facebook groups, twitter, etc etc.
http://www.brandprotect.com/
I do find it kind of amusing, since I just read Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, which was a fantastic book (and the sequel to Thank You for Smoking") and in it one of the products that makes billions for a soulless character is one that hides webpages you dont like from Google and other search engines.
I dont disagree with the notion of these companies, but I worry about consequences and tactics. Though it is increasingly the case - as with online shopping ten years ago - that we are seeing the emergence of a few giants of the online world who really have most of the volume, too often this will still be a mismatch which is easy to abuse. Send in one scary letter form letter from the legal department - and a post/article/comment disappears. Even places like Gawker Media dont have that much money behind them, and a lot of "new media" (like BoN) is just individuals. However, the internet is also something of a self leveling playing field: if companies like this get too aggressive, blogs etc will just write about them - in the same way that tech blogs regularly post legal letters from various big companies.
In the end, the best way for big companies to deal with web 2.0 is to embrace it. There are two good examples of this I recently read about, and one massive fail (all related to car companies).
The first is that GM has now created a task force (only about 6ppl so far) to search the web for customer complaints (generally dealing with newish vehicles) and try and figure out what they can do to help. This is a good thing.
The second is the case of Hyundai dealer who tried to screw and eBay buyer out of getting the car they bought on eBay at the price they paid for it. It is actually worth the read - so I will put it here (from Autoblog):
"Glenn Hyundai of Lexington, Kentucky placed a slightly used Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T on eBay Motors. There was no reserve, and a gencoupe.com forum member named McFly made a bid of $16,125 and won the auction (here's a PDF of the auction in case the eBay link goes dead).
Not a bad price, especially as the Gen Coupe in question had less than 5,000 miles on it and costs over $22,000 when new. McFly then secures financing from his bank to pay for the Coupe, makes the necessary travel arrangements to go pick up his car (he doesn't live in Kentucky) and calls the dealer to put down a deposit with his credit card. This is when things begin to go bad. We'll let McFly take it from here:
I talk to the front desk secretary, ask her how to make my deposit for an Internet Sales deal I have, and she immediately transfers me to Eric Manley. I talk to Eric briefly and he laughs at me over the phone, "Sorry buddy but you're not getting it for that price, he says." I tell him it's a deal that I have worked out with the Internet Sales guy, and I'm ready to make the deposit. He laughs at me again, and says, "sorry buddy, not for that price." It's obvious that this guy knows nothing about it, but it's odd that he won't let me make my deposit. He's clearly either confused or not the right guy.
Tad tells me that he's the one that made the deal (listed the ebay auction), and there is no way I'm getting it for that price, and that he doesn't care about the Legal Binding Contract that they have (the ebay auction), I'm not getting the deal.
We argue back and forth for a while. He offers a Christmas card, and then a Turkey [sic] for compensation, while I tell him that I have a "Legal Binding Contract" from them and that I'm not going away until I get my car or some compensation for this headache that they've put me through." He then says, that "Sorry, car has already been sold, so you can't have it it's gone."
...He says "we're going around in circles, you're not getting the car that I don't have here to sell you, and definitely not for that price. You've had a few people hang up on you already, why continue this. Didn't I tell you I was the owner." All lies of course, as I tell him "No you told me that you were Tad, not Cy Dicken, and everyone has been real nice so far, no ones hung up on me."
Long story short, the buyer told a forum about it, the forum told the big car blogs (Autoblog, Jalopnik, The Truth About Cars), and the public in general got good and pissed off (I wrote in my own short pissed email to the dealer).
Jalopnik spoke to Internet Manager Eric Manley, who said, "I don't know what the kid's problem is other than he's a little psycho." He's also threatened to sue the buyer because of "slander" and claims he "lost his mind.' - this is the kind of thing I that would worry me about "brand protect" - but as I said before, the internet has a way of dealing with assholes. The story on Autoblog alone had about 3,000 "Diggs" - which is a hell of a lot.
More of the story:
Glenn Hyundai's lawyer called me (about 1 hr ago). He says that there have been numerous calls to the dealership today, and that I need to stop. I told him that I hadn't called since December (it was actually on 12/18/09 when I talked to Elizabeth McKinley about the last and final purchase order, which stated 'Not ebay internet price'). He said he found the information I posted on the internet, and to stop contacting the local news (which I haven't contacted, maybe someone else did, I don't know). He also asked that I take off all the information from the internet. If I don't comply that the dealership and he will take legal action. He asked me for my address so that he could send a formal letter requesting these things. He has my address, 'it's on the purchase order they faxed me,' I told him.
"Good news, Glenn Hyundai and I have come to an agreement. I am now taking the next step, and changing every one of my posts to reflect that 'This was a misunderstanding and we have come to an agreement.'
Then Autoblog posted: If you're still calling the dealership to voice your opinion, please stop. There are reports that McFly could be in danger of losing the deal if calls to the dealership continue.
McFly and the dealership reached a verbal agreement, but that agreement was then broken by the dealership. He retained a lawyer, and the internet went back into action, raining hate on the dealer.
And this is where Hyundai America stepped in and made the idiotic dealership just give the man his car, at the price he bought it for. Which made the internet happy, made the whole thing go away, and left everyone feeling good about Hyundai while hating the dealership. This is how big companies need to deal with these challenges - monitor them, and use them/see them as marketing opportunities.
The failure was the launch of the Honda Accord Crosstour - which will go down as a massive fail in the biz-school books. Basically, everyone was expecting something that looked like the European Accord (Acura TSX) wagon, but instead we got a boatload of butt-ugly. The reveal was done on facebook, and the comments were.... bad. Until someone from Honda--unofficially--got on there and started telling people they were all wrong. Ermmm... bad move. The hating and bashing was not helped by this, and the product launch was a total failure. Though - as the Crosstour is really sold to old people and soccer mom's, this did not have a big effect on the product as some predicted it would.
So there you have it - the new web is a scary place for companies, and I understand the desire to turn to someone to try and manage it for you, but in almost all cases, the carrot is a much better option than the stick. The internet does not respond well to sticks.
http://www.brandprotect.com/
I do find it kind of amusing, since I just read Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, which was a fantastic book (and the sequel to Thank You for Smoking") and in it one of the products that makes billions for a soulless character is one that hides webpages you dont like from Google and other search engines.
I dont disagree with the notion of these companies, but I worry about consequences and tactics. Though it is increasingly the case - as with online shopping ten years ago - that we are seeing the emergence of a few giants of the online world who really have most of the volume, too often this will still be a mismatch which is easy to abuse. Send in one scary letter form letter from the legal department - and a post/article/comment disappears. Even places like Gawker Media dont have that much money behind them, and a lot of "new media" (like BoN) is just individuals. However, the internet is also something of a self leveling playing field: if companies like this get too aggressive, blogs etc will just write about them - in the same way that tech blogs regularly post legal letters from various big companies.
In the end, the best way for big companies to deal with web 2.0 is to embrace it. There are two good examples of this I recently read about, and one massive fail (all related to car companies).
The first is that GM has now created a task force (only about 6ppl so far) to search the web for customer complaints (generally dealing with newish vehicles) and try and figure out what they can do to help. This is a good thing.
The second is the case of Hyundai dealer who tried to screw and eBay buyer out of getting the car they bought on eBay at the price they paid for it. It is actually worth the read - so I will put it here (from Autoblog):
"Glenn Hyundai of Lexington, Kentucky placed a slightly used Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T on eBay Motors. There was no reserve, and a gencoupe.com forum member named McFly made a bid of $16,125 and won the auction (here's a PDF of the auction in case the eBay link goes dead).
Not a bad price, especially as the Gen Coupe in question had less than 5,000 miles on it and costs over $22,000 when new. McFly then secures financing from his bank to pay for the Coupe, makes the necessary travel arrangements to go pick up his car (he doesn't live in Kentucky) and calls the dealer to put down a deposit with his credit card. This is when things begin to go bad. We'll let McFly take it from here:
I talk to the front desk secretary, ask her how to make my deposit for an Internet Sales deal I have, and she immediately transfers me to Eric Manley. I talk to Eric briefly and he laughs at me over the phone, "Sorry buddy but you're not getting it for that price, he says." I tell him it's a deal that I have worked out with the Internet Sales guy, and I'm ready to make the deposit. He laughs at me again, and says, "sorry buddy, not for that price." It's obvious that this guy knows nothing about it, but it's odd that he won't let me make my deposit. He's clearly either confused or not the right guy.
Tad tells me that he's the one that made the deal (listed the ebay auction), and there is no way I'm getting it for that price, and that he doesn't care about the Legal Binding Contract that they have (the ebay auction), I'm not getting the deal.
We argue back and forth for a while. He offers a Christmas card, and then a Turkey [sic] for compensation, while I tell him that I have a "Legal Binding Contract" from them and that I'm not going away until I get my car or some compensation for this headache that they've put me through." He then says, that "Sorry, car has already been sold, so you can't have it it's gone."
...He says "we're going around in circles, you're not getting the car that I don't have here to sell you, and definitely not for that price. You've had a few people hang up on you already, why continue this. Didn't I tell you I was the owner." All lies of course, as I tell him "No you told me that you were Tad, not Cy Dicken, and everyone has been real nice so far, no ones hung up on me."
Long story short, the buyer told a forum about it, the forum told the big car blogs (Autoblog, Jalopnik, The Truth About Cars), and the public in general got good and pissed off (I wrote in my own short pissed email to the dealer).
Jalopnik spoke to Internet Manager Eric Manley, who said, "I don't know what the kid's problem is other than he's a little psycho." He's also threatened to sue the buyer because of "slander" and claims he "lost his mind.' - this is the kind of thing I that would worry me about "brand protect" - but as I said before, the internet has a way of dealing with assholes. The story on Autoblog alone had about 3,000 "Diggs" - which is a hell of a lot.
More of the story:
Glenn Hyundai's lawyer called me (about 1 hr ago). He says that there have been numerous calls to the dealership today, and that I need to stop. I told him that I hadn't called since December (it was actually on 12/18/09 when I talked to Elizabeth McKinley about the last and final purchase order, which stated 'Not ebay internet price'). He said he found the information I posted on the internet, and to stop contacting the local news (which I haven't contacted, maybe someone else did, I don't know). He also asked that I take off all the information from the internet. If I don't comply that the dealership and he will take legal action. He asked me for my address so that he could send a formal letter requesting these things. He has my address, 'it's on the purchase order they faxed me,' I told him.
"Good news, Glenn Hyundai and I have come to an agreement. I am now taking the next step, and changing every one of my posts to reflect that 'This was a misunderstanding and we have come to an agreement.'
Then Autoblog posted: If you're still calling the dealership to voice your opinion, please stop. There are reports that McFly could be in danger of losing the deal if calls to the dealership continue.
McFly and the dealership reached a verbal agreement, but that agreement was then broken by the dealership. He retained a lawyer, and the internet went back into action, raining hate on the dealer.
And this is where Hyundai America stepped in and made the idiotic dealership just give the man his car, at the price he bought it for. Which made the internet happy, made the whole thing go away, and left everyone feeling good about Hyundai while hating the dealership. This is how big companies need to deal with these challenges - monitor them, and use them/see them as marketing opportunities.
The failure was the launch of the Honda Accord Crosstour - which will go down as a massive fail in the biz-school books. Basically, everyone was expecting something that looked like the European Accord (Acura TSX) wagon, but instead we got a boatload of butt-ugly. The reveal was done on facebook, and the comments were.... bad. Until someone from Honda--unofficially--got on there and started telling people they were all wrong. Ermmm... bad move. The hating and bashing was not helped by this, and the product launch was a total failure. Though - as the Crosstour is really sold to old people and soccer mom's, this did not have a big effect on the product as some predicted it would.
So there you have it - the new web is a scary place for companies, and I understand the desire to turn to someone to try and manage it for you, but in almost all cases, the carrot is a much better option than the stick. The internet does not respond well to sticks.
Comments
Post a Comment