No Revolution

The Diva Marketing Blog
Edelman/Wal-Mart Lessons Learned
Here are instructive and insightful details into a commercial blogging experiment gone awry. Edelman PR attempted to pass off a blog written by its employees on behalf of Wal-Mart. Obviously, transparency in the blogosphere should never ever be compromised.

However, I see a different conclusion to this cautionary tale. Blog-related marketing efforts ... perhaps ... shouldn't be driven by PR goals and tactics.

PR is by definition an intermediary between a corporation and the media, which is in-turn an intermediary to the public.

What differentiates word-of-mouth marketing is that it appropriates PR-like tactics but is not an intermediary. It is a direct channel to consumers via blogs, social networks and special interest usergroups online.

It's splitting a hair. But it's a hair worth splitting.