Public Relations – Mike Litman

#Amazonfail and a coincidental job advert

This post was originally going to be entitled ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’ and simply put up the image below but felt like it deserved a bit more than that..

Reading this is probably the best place to start.. then come right back..

I’ve been keeping half an eye over the weekend on the steadily building #Amazonfail which is incidentally the top trending topic on Twitter and there are this minute more mentions than even Easter. (For an example of it’s talkability factor, in the past hour there’s been a further 700+ mentions since I carried out the original search.)

It’s starting to also garner mainstream coverage now as the traditional press catches up but it is something as far as I know started on Twitter and then made it’s way through the blogosphere shortly after.

What’s happened since then? #Amazonfail was being mentioned 4 times a second barely an hour after the first tweet. A petition was started (which over 15,000 people have signed) a Google Bomb took place, and no I formerly had no idea what one of them was either but it sounds pretty damaging. A Facebook group ‘Boycott Amazon’ has been started. A poll was created with the question being ‘Can Amazon redeem/repair their reputation after #amazonfail?’ A list has popped up featuring all the affected titles – here. Some internet hackers are claiming it’s all their doing whilst the names and numbers of the Board of Directors at Amazon HQ have been published. The CTO has been also been ‘unmasked’ (and remains quiet on the whole debacle). Clearly, this is an issue that’s not going to just disappear overnight.

I’ve rounded up a few posts below. One question that everyone at one stage appeared to be asking was do Amazon have a PR manager in the UK or otherwise to deal with freak happenings like this? The advertisement to my right that I coincidentally spotted in the back of the most recent issue of PR Week would suggest otherwise. I put up the picture on Twitpic and soon after @girlonetrack (an affected publisher) retweeted it to her followers.

A few questions for you..

Do you think this is going to affect Amazon’s reputation at all? Has their silence thus far helped or hindered the situation? What do you think their response should be?

Roundup –

Blogs and Twitter coin Amazonfail by Wall Street Journal

Amazon feel the web’s wrath by Zoe Margolis

Amazon sees censorship decisions magnified through the social web magnifying glass by Becky McMichael

Amazonfail – Easter PR Disaster by Matt Churchill

Amazon = FAIL by Alas, a Blog

#Amazonfail – Timeline of WTF by Anastacia

Amazon Follies by Mark Probst

AmazonFAIL discussion thread at Metafilter

Amazonfail : A call to boycott Amazon by Edward Champion

Amazonfail – Malice or Bumble by Jessica Gottlieb

Amazon has removed it’s customer based reporting of books by Brutal Honesty

Amazon blames a glitch by Los Angeles Times

The Top 10 in PR listed in The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies 2009.

It’s with great pleasure to announce that for the 8th year running Consolidated PR has been named as one of The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies 2009, the 49th to be precise! It’s a particularly notable achievement considering no fewer than 565 small companies sought a place in the top 100. Of that, only 10 were classified as being in the ‘Public Relations’ sector. You can see the full list here.

To be “the industry’s hottest property by 2011” is the goal we’re all striving to achieve and it’s an exciting time at the moment with some brilliant clients, great people to work with and a forward thinking MD who really gets all this new fangled online stuff.

Along with being ranked 49th overall, we were ranked as 28th in ‘Giving Back’, 33rd in ‘Belonging’, 66th in the ‘Leadership’ ranks, 68th in ‘Personal Growth’ and 86th in ‘Wellbeing’.

So what does that even mean? How do you define belonging for example?

Giving Back – How much Companies are thought by their staff to put back into society in general and the local community in particular

Belonging – Feelings about the company people work for as opposed to the people they work with

Leadership – How employees feel about the head of the company and its senior managers

Personal Growth – To what extent staff feel they are stretched and challenged by their job

Wellbeing – How staff feel about stress, pressure and the balance between their work and home duties

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The top 10, in fact, the only 10 from the ‘Public Relations’ sector are:-

(18) Blue Rubicon – New entrant

(20) Nelson Bostock Communications

(23) Brands2Life – New entrant

(29) Text 100 – New entrant

(33) Shine Communications – New entrant

(41) The Red Consultancy – New entrant

(49) Consolidated PR

(94) Golin Harris

(96) Trimedia

(100) Lexis Communications

Interesting to note that of the 10 entrants, there are an equal amount of new entrants compared to agencies who have consistently remained in the runnings. Well done to Nelson Bostock, Consolidated PR, Golin Harris, Trimedia and Lexis Communications along with all the new entrants!