Cliff Edwards at BusinessWeek's online Tech Beat blog grants us a glimpse at the dark, smelly underbelly of traditional, establishment, high-stakes public relations.
Mr. Edwards' post is about a call he received from PR people representing the interests of a company that, in my opinion, would like to see Research in Motion float way-far out to sea atop a fast-melting Canadian iceberg... all never to be seen or heard from again. His opening:
Kick 'em while they're down!
As if Crackberry addicts and corporations that subscribe to Research in Motion's Blackberry service weren't complaining enough, Microsoft's PR team is in high gear.
A spokeswoman just called to helpfully point out that such widespread outages as what's occurred with Blackberry overnight in North America wouldn't happen with Microsoft's push email solution.
I like that Cliff Edwards gets to the main point quick. Of course, the negative positioners won another round. BusinessWeek online after all, publicized their point. I'm sure there were high fives all around the the caller's cube.
Is this sort of thing bad? It is what it is. It's been going on forever. It's done to companies of all types, all sizes and at all levels. It's done in business, politics, and even to a degree among average people to one another. One way to intensify the light on you is to pour a coat of darkness on a rival. It's a short cut. Sometimes it's a last resort.
But it never feels good. Why? Because if a product is truly superior, then staying on the positive script ought to be enough. When the product isn't superior, or isn't recognized as such, or it came too late, or it comes from an unlikely source or from someone otherwise held in lower esteem... the old script won't work, or won't work as fast as it needs to.
Lastly, what about the timing? Look, the competitors didn't cause the outage. RIM isn't a person; it's a corporate entity. Every PR person worth the retainer would advise the client in this case to strike while the opportunity to be heard is hot. [The NOC issue has been talked about before, but this week people were obviously listening a little harder and hearing more relevance.] And don't think for a minute that the next time RIM gets to score a three-pointer against this competitor they won't jump at the chance to take their shot.
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