This was always going to happen sooner or later, and this wont be the first. Putting a human face to a company also put a personality there, and no-one’s perfect! Very silly thing to tweet though!

Everybody secretly knows publisher blacklists exist (in some form or other) but to put it out there in such a childish tweet was pretty dense!

@luella. You would think people learn, but really they don’t as it is all done in a rush.

@fail yes, you guess they have them. You don’t need to say it. Just quietly seethe like everyone else.

Just crazy! This isn’t an email sent to the wrong person, it was hashtagged too! Talk about a total lack of foresight…

We may not like what they write but blacklisting is not something that most good PRs do. Reviews are usually fair. Most advise clients they have to take the rough with the smooth and most clients would agree. Silly error.

Perhaps we need to learn some tips from the old-school Cosa Nostra school of communications: never speak on the phone, only in person and never ever document your conversations that are going to be inflammatory.

In a modern world like this, tweets like this should be confined for pure whispers between colleagues.

This is a real WTF moment.

Would I want to hire a PR firm that has a tendency to say dumb things on Twitter? Nope.

Would I want to hire a PR firm that screwed up, realised the mistake, learnt from it and moved on?

Different question.

I have said it for ages.. I really dont believe that businesses should outsource their Twitter accounts… They should support, harness, train, give guidance & guidelines to their staff…

When you outsource to an agency.. no matter how good they are, they lack 1 major thing..passion.. passion for the business & passion for the company they are looking after…to them its just another paying client.. come to 5.30pm and all is forgotten until next day..

Harness your staff, find those that are passionate about your business & cant stop talking about it.. train them, support them, give them guidelines & guidance..

Mark Shaw

@Ross Hall – well put, so would you?

I like what @jopkins tweeted: “Tired: Doing a Ratner, Wired: Doing a Redner”.

Of course, it’s possible that 2K were just waiting for an excuse to fire Redner…

While it is unfortunate that The Redner Group took to such a public forum to publicly rebuke media outlets that had negatively reviewed Duke Nukem, it is encouraging that the firm realizes its remarks went too far and were detrimental to the positive relationship that businesses and the media must foster.

The blacklisting of media (or the threatening to do so) because of negative reviews or commentary is most certainly not what comprises ethical public relations practices, and is not something we condone for our members or the broader profession.

From an ethical public relations perspective, we advocate for businesses to both respect the media and to be open to providing accurate information in a forthright manner to all media outlets that request such information. Threatening to punish publications that do not write favorable reviews for a product or service goes against a core tenet of ethical public relations regarding the protection and advancement of the free flow of accurate and truthful information that is essential to serving the public interest and contributing to informed decision making in a democratic society.

Keith Trivitt
Associate Director of Public Relations
Public Relations Society of America
http://www.prsa.org/

What surprises me here is not the screw up on Twitter (we’ve been here before), but the tacit acceptance of Redner’s ‘blacklisting’ behaviour in some of the comments above. Hopefully, the ever increasing transparency of social media means such practices will become as obsolete as those using them.

A useful reminder that we should think before we tweet… Every place a potential customer interacts with a company,its employees and agencies is an opportunity to build or destroy its brand!

@Mark Shaw – bit of a sweeping generalisation there. I know of agencies who do social media because the people inhouse want to go away at 5.30pm and leave the out of hours stuff to the agency.

Good call Julius Duncan

As Marty Neumeier says “you’re brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is.

The best brands perform because they stand for something and that polarises opinion. Some of the best selling games in history,have seen many a negative review didn’t stop them selling by the shed load.

So, let me understand this … you want reviews but only if they’re good. Interesting.

Mark Shaw
1) the agency was tweeting on behalf of itself. Unless Redner itself has hired a subcontractor.

2) I think your view somewhat reactionary and behind the times. After all, the companies we’re discussing don’t always do their own manufacturing, but rely on smart quality control processes. Nor do they do their own retailing, in many cases. They don’t buy their own media, or make their own ads. Why should they invest heavily in maintaining their own social media teams, rather than overseeing the process?

Mark Shaw
I have been both sides, client side and agency side. I understand where you are coming from but its completely unrealistic. Major corporations do not have the time nor the inclination to hire conversation managers and when they do, their time is inevitably minimalised by other responsibilities. Agencies are entrusted with marketing, promotion, media, content, creative, why not social conversation? And I completely disagree on passion. You may have had some bad agency experiences but I have worked with many passionate hard working caring agencies who act and behave like they are an extension of the client they represent.

Its going to be even worse when he eventually plays the game and realizes how terrible it really is.

I find it hard to believe that this was one man tweeting; it seems to me that he would not have had the authority to add any names to a blacklist; I suspect he just got scapegoated.

In a way it is a very good PR move. We all know who they are now.

I personally feel the biggest mistake here wasn’t the Tweet, it was thinking that a traditional reviews programme was going to get decent reviews for the game. The PR should have known he’s got a dud on his hands and adjusted the campaign accordingly. In essence, he had to polish the turd. My blog post on whether PRs can polish turds http://bit.ly/mqvT65

Silly tweet brought video game publisher lots of positive publicity.

Insane. It’s never appropriate to make commitments or announcements (of any kind, much less of an extremely negative nature) on behalf of a client unless it has been thoroughly vetted and approved by all stakeholders.

As co-founder and managing partner at a PR and communications firm that handles social media, among other things, for clients including technology startups, I know that even announcing a new feature or release too soon, when the developers “think” it’s going to be ready instead of when it’s actually ready, is not good PR practice.

It’s our job to be more vigilant about all of these measures than even the client, not go off promising XYZ without even talking to them. And making threats to customers is just beyond the pale.

Mark Shaw – there are those of us who are incredibly passionate about the clients we represent, who do not work 9 to 5, who travel and write and edit and post and build relationships all on behalf of clients. Thanks Adam Rubins for sharing your experience.

2k acted correctly to save the brand from a dump PR agency. It’s important we learn to take criticism as an opportunity for continuous brand improvement and innovation

Shows that Twitter is now the main arena…

The video game marketing industry has ALWAYS been saying things like this. Since day one. The other way is to threaten to pull advertising. They never do.

Doh

I have already been writing on the effect that Twitter is having on media & its personalities.

Please do read this and share your views.”Twitter a case of Fatal attraction or a case sting in the tale.” http://t.co/KJ7nZuq

Sincerely
Anil Kohli

Its a two-eged sword. If a reviewer is too caustic, he will not be on the ‘First-to-know, list.
Reviewers also need to be up-to-date otherwise all they can do is rehash old stuff.
Diplomacy has a place after all!

With different channels for social media merging, it can sometimes be difficult to ensure the correct tone of communication is maintained – then you get a major slip like this one!! All businesses should have comprehensive social media policies and should educate employees as to what is and isn’t acceptable. You’ll be surprised how few organisations have a social media policy, but most have an email policy for instance. A dose of personality is what distinguishes social media from many other forms of communications, but professionalism is key. We are hosting an event on 19th July to discuss these issues and more at our central Birmingham offices, if you’d like to join the discussion. Our stellar speaker line-up includes Will Dymott @lyle_and_scott; @podnosh; @marcreeves; and @paulbradshaw. You are all very welcome to come along! http://www.martineau-uk.com/publication_event/updates/harmonising-social-media-event-19-July-2011.pdf

I’ve never heard of the Redner Group

WOW…that was a TWEET that went into TWEET-suicide ! Yes if you are going to advertise on these social-networking media platforms , the speed at which you type needs to be addressed : PAUSE…THINK…BREATHE…PAUSE…THINK…
BREATHE… then type

this mistake has cost them an account

there will always be good and bad commentary – it’s human nature ; one just needs to ensure that there is more good in the commentary than bad !!

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