Miller Brewing has its own fulltime employee blogging about the beer industry and its arch rival Anheuser-Busch. This is an unusual advocacy platform. Being an advocate for your own company and badvocating or breaking news about your competitor breaks several traditional and social media conventions and can certainly be described as “out of the box” thinking.
Jim Arndorfer’s blog is called BrewBlog and I first read about it in the WSJ. The blog has practically developed into its own news feed and has a fair amount of influence in the beer sector. The Journal article described how Arndorfer scooped the trade publications on a new ale being produced by A-B called Budweiser American Ale. As described, “Brew Blog is the latest and perhaps most unlikely front in Miller’s drive to rattle Anheuser.”
To make it all fair in love and war, Arndorfer also posts negative tales about his own company although my sense is that they are less problematic than the ones about A-B.
Wisely, Arndorfer makes no attempt to hide who his employer is. The blog makes it evidently clear that he is a Miller employee. Transparency rules.
Advocates and badvocates come from everywhere but this one is unusual at best. I had to read the article twice to understand how this actually worked. Gathering information on your rival to be published on a company blog is not business as usual. Something to watch over time.
The blog is particulary interesting to read as talks between InBev and A-B heat up.
B
eing an advocate for your university can help drive share price? How does that work? Harvard Business School and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business found that university ties can make a difference among equity analysts. Essentially, information flows more tightly in security markets among those who attended the same schools. Interestingly, ivy league school advocates fare no better than non-ivy league school advocates. Essentially the research by professor Lauren Cohen found that
equity analysts outperform on stock recommendations when they went to the same university as the company’s management. The information flow is clearly more liquid and far-reaching among university networks than previously thought. Apparently the old school ties can help equity analysts make the right picks and recommendations. Public company managers might want to handpick those sell-side analysts who share common university ties and turn them into true blue advocates. A thought as the markets close for memorial day in the U.S.
Happy holiday.
My colleague David Krejci has an internal social media newsletter that I really enjoy. It is called Your New Times and I always learn from it. This week’s edition focused on something called Astroturfing which is defined as fake buzz. The article in the newsletter written by “stingray” is about how people fake comments or create controversies on YouTube, Facebook and other sites to make them look like they have lots of friends or visitors or detractors. Using stingray’s definition — Astroturfing is when a public relations campaign seeks to create the impression of spontaneous, grassroots behavior (hence the reference to the artificial grass Astroturf). Astroturfing is a prime example of what we call badvocacy.
I wonder how it can be stopped or found out. If anyone knows, please let me know. I am always interested in how to combat badvocacy.
Here is some interesting evidence that badvocacy exceeds advocacy. If you go to Fortune’s Most Admired Companies section on the Fortune web site, you will find that people post their thoughts on whether the top most admired companies deserve the kudos or not. Fortune asks readers: What do you think of the corporations on Fortune’s top 20 Most Admired Companies list? Should they be in the top 20? Tell us what you think. The best replies will be published here, and possibly in a future story on CNNMoney.com.
As of this writing, there were 156 postings. We did the analysis one week ago when there were 129 comments. Over one-half (54%) of the comments in our analysis about the top 20 most admired companies were negative vs. over one-third (38%) which were positive. The remaining 8% were neutral. The comments are pretty interesting and are certainly a peek into what people think about companies. As our research on advocates and badvocates shows, badvocacy gets spread more frequently.
As an example, here is a positive one about Costco:
“I was a 20 year kid when I started working for Costco. Almost instantly I was looked at as a celebrity in the town I worked. People would stop me on the street and ask me about Costco and tell me about their love of the store. In the eight years I worked there I was wa paid well and given full time employment. I worked in the regional office and learned more about the company then I ever thought I would. I know that they are not perfect and have some improvements to make but they do a good job taking care of their employees despite pressure from Wall Street to limit their compensation. I personally met the CEO. I bought in the company philosophy that the member comes first and I felt good about making sacrifices for company (like time away from my family and not getting everything to make my work life better). Costco is truely an innovative business model that could treat their employees a lot worse but they don’t because they chose not to. Needless to say I drank the Kool-Aid and 4 years away from the company I still shop there every week just to remember how it tastes. If Costco doesn’t deserve to be there no company does.”
Here is a negative one that is referring to recent problems that Southwest Airlines has had with the Federal Aviation Agency about flying planes with safety concerns:
“Southwest + FAA = Not a trusted top 20.”
Badvocacy often rules.
Former VP Al Gore launched its new advertising campaign today. The goal is to enlist 10 million advocates. You can find out more on www.wecansolveit.org. The first of the new ads is available to view. There is a button on the web site with ideas for Taking Action, a true advocacy criterion. When I clicked on the Advocate for Change, there was a host of activities suggested for helping with climate change. They were:
- Writing to elected officials
- Meeting with elected representatives
- Writing an op-ed piece to my local paper
- Letters to the Editor
- Making talk radio work for you
I was particularly intrigued about the advice on calling into a talk radio program and read the pointers on making one’s arguments “advocable” (new word):
- Listen to the show to get an idea of topics addressed and the kind of rapport the host has with callers. Does the host challenge callers and cut them off, or is he or she more likely to invite a diversity of opinions? Don’t be afraid to call shows with typically argumentative hosts. If you present your point in a clear, non-flustered manner, your call will have been a success.
- Write out a couple of clear (and brief!) talking points. Plan on making your point in no more than a few sentences.
- If you think you will be nervous, practice stating your point out-loud or with a friend.
- Try calling early in the show, ideally about five minutes before the show starts.
You will speak to a screener who will ask what you would like to talk about. Keep your point short and avoid going into detail. You might say you are calling to talk about “green energy” or “the importance of good public transportation.”
- When you get on-air, stay focused and calm. State your point in a few clear and short sentences. Just don’t read directly from your notes — listeners can tell.
If the host challenges you or tries to re-direct the conversation, bring listeners back to your central point.
- Avoid sounding flustered, obstinate, or argumentative. Instead, work to come across as calm and authoritative.
Helpful advice on an important advocacy tool. I had also heard Al Gore on the radio last Sunday and was moved by his comments on how he became an advocate after his devastating defeat for the presidency. Gore talked about how he had no where else to go but dust off his old climate change slides and start over. It was remarkable to hear the passion and commitment in his voice. His comments on restoring his life’s direction made me visit their site this morning and read about the solutions they offer on minimizing one’s impact on the environment.
Gore’s advocacy on climate change can fuel change and mobilize people to take action. Advocacy works.
Of course, now that social networking sites are so popular, a new form would come along. Anti-social networking sites or Badvocacy sites being another way to look at them. THE WEEK, a wonderful magazine if you have not seen or read it, mentioned three “meanie” sites that I thought I would bring to your attention. They sourced the Financial Times as their source. Since Badvocacy can be toxic sometimes, these sites probably are drawing attention:
- Enemybook.info (antisocial website that disconnects you to your so-called friends around you)
- Hatebook.com (website where people can read and write about things they hate. You can vent, associate with others, take things in perspective, or even to find some humor in life, so they say)
- Snubster.com (your list of enemies from Facebook)
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal (”Ford’s Latest Better Idea”) describes Ford Motor Company’s latest campaign. What caught my eye was their strategy which is a build a grass-roots “army of Ford brand advocates.” As described further, potential customers are meant to “feel something” and “do something” about Ford such as visiting a dealer. Weber Shandwick’s research on Advocates describes this phenomenon well. Identifying your advocates early in the decision-making process is critical and understanding what you are asking them to do on your behalf is where the rubber meets the road.
I recently heard an interesting story that reminded me that advocacy for a brand, cause or reputation works best when it stems from the top. Dutch logistics company TNT CEO Peter Bakker traded in his Porsche for a hybrid car. As part of his company’s corporate responsibility program titled Planet ME which asks people to make choices at work and home to address global climate change, Bakker made his car switch to “walk the talk.” He states that corporate activities combined with individual actions will make the greatest difference in reducing carbon emissions and saving the planet. In addition, all staffs’ company-leased cars at TNT have to be “green.”
Advocacy that works has to stretch from top to bottom, from mailroom to boardroom, from A to Z. That is also one reason why we at Weber Shandwick call our initiative, Advocacy starts here.
Imagine my surprise when I typed “badvocates” into Google and found a blog titled badvocates by Craig Ritchie. The reason I am surprised is that we coined the term badvocates last year in May. Weber Shandwick conducted research on what drives advocacy and badvocacy worldwide…who are these people who champion or detract from companies, causes and organizations. The badvocates are the advocates with their thumbs down. His blog has a tag line that says “You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry. And own a blog. Or a webcam. ” He also has a cute UN-smiley face….>:( for badvocates. Our research found that badvocates spread negative word-of-mouth faster and to more people. Don’t get on their bad side! That’s okay if Craig wants to borrow the term. We believe in open sourcing.
Everyone is talking about Starbucks and whether it can turnaround its reputation once again as founder CEO Howard Schultz takes the reins. It’s like Coca-Cola and Pepsi wars. People like to talk about the relative merits of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts coffee. It is perfect water cooler talk, as omnipresent as Obama and Hillary conversations which you can find on any street corner. A recent poll I read about in PRWeek (2.14.08) found that of 62 percent of consumers who regularly visit coffee shop brands, 16 percent “actively avoid Starbucks.” We would call them badvocates although the article refers to them as “active avoiders.” I was taken with the term which is why I wrote this post just now. I like “badvocates” better. That’s my vote.
Miller Brewing has its own fulltime employee blogging about the beer industry and its arch rival Anheuser-Busch. This is an unusual advocacy platform. Being an advocate for your own company and badvocating or breaking news about your competitor breaks several traditional and social media conventions and can certainly be described as “out of the box” thinking.
