First it was Phil Gomes last August. Then it was Guillaume du Gardier in October. And then Steve Rubel this month (starting today, in fact).
All three communicators, bloggers I know and major influencers in social media and PR, were snapped up by Edelman. And the PR group’s objectives are pretty clear (transparent, as befits the blogosphere), according to CEO Richard Edelman:
What do we hope to achieve together? In short, we want to persuade our corporate clients to commit to the blogosphere. According to Chris Anderson of WIRED Magazine, only 20 of the Fortune 500 companies are seriously committed to blogging, whether by the CEO, marketing or R&D units. This is a missed opportunity to learn from consumers, to allow employees to be the first line of credible offense for corporate initiatives, to reach out to stakeholders such as NGOs and to co-create the brand story and corporate reputation with informed and passionate on-line participants.
It hasn’t stopped there. News via Hugh McLeod – erstwhile Six Apart marketer in Germany, Heiko Hebig, has also been snapped up by Edelman.
An agency to really keep an eye on. And Richard Edelman bought 250 copies of a business book on blogging the other day…
[Update] I really ought to read others’ posts, and the comments, more carefully before posting mine. In a comment he left to Hugh’s post, Hebig says he hasn’t been hired by Edelman. Oops. Now waiting for the flames about irresponsible blogging, not checking facts first, etc. Sorry!
2 responses to “Edelman ramping up social media expertise”
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It just goes to show, if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em (in the business world).
Innovation and creativity comes from the smaller and mid-size companies, regardless of the industry. I’d be most interested in your feedback to the post I made last week or so about Edelman and WS snapping up the bloggers.
http://www.mikespoints.com/archives/001297.html
For your rush to click, don’t worry. Traditional media also make mistakes. And, they do correct them, like you did. Mistakes happen. They shouldn’t, but they do.
Take care,
Mike