Just in case you’re wondering, the big, bad wolf in question is me and not some ‘other’ PR agency 🙂
I’ve just commented on Stephen Davies’ blog, but thought it might be worthwhile expanding it and giving my apology a bit more exposure.
Stephen’s absolutely right about leaving the client name in that ‘post’. It was wrong and that’s 100% my fault, for which I apologise profusely. I’d already asked Jed not to mention the PR agency. When I was approving it I originally took out the client name, but then (in retrospect foolishly) put it back in because I thought it was relevant in the context of it having a previous issue in the social media space.
My other mistake was not making it even clearer that it was the second email that was the problem. The first was just a mistake and should have been ignored. I truly believe the second ‘apology’ email should have been handled differently and was worth calling out. Sorry if you disagree, but that’s what I think.
I’ve always believed, and still do, in telling it like it is. It’s a Cumbrian thing.
One disappointing,but predictable, aspect to me is that it’s apparent that some of the people commenting/tweeting haven’t actually read the post in question, or the follow up, and are more jumping on the bandwagon of it’s bad to criticise a competitor. Which I’d agree with if that’s all I knew.
What is OK in my book is to criticise what people or companies do, which is what the post was about. That’s why I don’t mind the flack over what we did, but I do take issue with the more ‘generic’ big, bad wolf criticism.
