[Rumori] Determined Detractors

[Steev Hise]

pretty interesting article
from yesterday's new york times:
( http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/27/business/media/27adco.html?oref=login )

Marketing's Flip Side: The 'Determined Detractor'
By NAT IVES

Marketers have become fond of recruiting friendly trendsetters to
promote their products, but modern technology may now force them
to pay attention to another kind of agent of influence making the
rounds: the determined detractor.

Determined detractors are persistent critics of a company or
product that mount their own public relations offensive, often
online. They have roiled corporate plans at least since Ralph
Nader famously attacked the Chevrolet Corvair and other cars in
his 1965 book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," which prompted General
Motors to hire a private detective to investigate him.

But the Internet and affordable digital technology have made its
far easier for detractors to contact and mobilize sympathizers,
as the presidential candidates found this year: MoveOn.org was
critical of President Bush, and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
posed a challenge to Senator John Kerry.

Now some public relations agencies and research companies are
studying determined detractors, dividing them into different
groups defined by motivation, monitoring their complaints and
trying to help corporate clients decide how to react.

BuzzMetrics, a New York-based specialist in word-of-mouth
marketing, has developed proprietary software to scoop up
information on trendsetters and potential influencers as they
travel the Internet, posting messages on bulletin board sites,
updating personal Web pages and sharing information through
e-mail mailing lists.

"For brand managers, the big challenge is to predict trouble on
the horizon," said Jonathan Carson, head of BuzzMetrics. "When
they see a detractor they have to figure out whether it's a
single disgruntled customer or an actual smoldering crisis that
could explode."

BuzzMetrics would not identify by name the 20 or so marketers it
says have used, or are now using, its crisis management or
prevention services, but Mr. Carson said the clients included
several pharmaceutical companies. BuzzMetrics also looked into
the threat posed to a French conglomerate when some supporters of
the Iraq invasion were circulating a boycott list. It is now
studying the way critics of Dan Rather gained traction so soon
after his report questioning President Bush's National Guard
service.

The best-known corporate detractor this year was probably Morgan
Spurlock, who tried to shred McDonald's image with his
documentary "Super Size Me." But Web-savvy agitators have also
used the Internet to great effect, with sites like
www.ipodsdirtysecret.com (contending that the battery in Apple's
iPod lasts only 18 months, cannot be replaced by the user and, at
the time, cost $250 to have it replaced by Apple),
www.ihatestarbucks.com (criticizing Starbucks on a number of
issues) and www.watchingmicrosoft.com (a compendium of news and
Web links critical of Microsoft).

"One determined detractor can do as much damage as 100,000
positive mentions can do good," said Paul Rand, managing director
at Ketchum Midwest in Chicago, part of the Omnicom Group. "In the
same way that we need to understand who the positive influencers
are, it is becoming even more critical to identify and manage
determined detractors."

"The technology puts the power of the press into the hands of the
everyman," he added.

One of the most widely publicized detractor stunts took aim at
Apple Computer's popular iPod. Two brothers who live in New York
City, Casey and Van Neistat, discovered last year that dead iPod
batteries could not be easily or cheaply replaced. So they
recorded a phone call to the Apple help line, where they were
told the smartest thing was to buy a new iPod; shot video of
themselves stenciling "iPod's unreplaceable battery lasts only 18
months" on iPod posters; and posted it all online as a
three-minute video. The clip cost them $40 to produce.

Apple Computer, which did not respond to messages left seeking
comment, soon began offering a cheaper battery-replacement
program. The protest video, which went up in November 2003,
remains online at www.ipodsdirtysecret.com.

Casey Neistat, an artist and aspiring filmmaker, said he welcomed
responses from marketers and corporate targets. "If it's just to
better their product or avoid a P.R. disaster, the bottom line is
that that benefits the customer," he said.

Shortly after the United States-led invasion of Iraq, when some
political conservatives urged boycotts of French products in
protest against French opposition to the war, a marketer of
French products hired BuzzMetrics to gauge the risk of boycott
threats in America. After mapping the spread of a big boycott
list online, BuzzMetrics collected reactions from various groups
of consumers.

"The determined detractors promoted the boycott online and
specifically went after enthusiasts of the products on the
lists," Mr. Carson recalled. The reaction, however, was anything
but monolithic: it turned out that political partisans were split
down the middle on the boycott. And, most important for the
client, the buyers of its products were overwhelmingly against
the proposed boycott.

In partnership with the Pew Internet and American Life Project,
BuzzMetrics also analyzed the online response that followed Dan
Rather's report on CBS questioning President Bush's National
Guard service. They identified small groups of determined
detractors of Mr. Rather that had communicated online for years,
often through sites like www.ratherbiased.com. When a few critics
raised doubts about the documents that Mr. Rather included in his
report, the infrastructure was already in place to spread and
amplify the questions. Mr. Rather ultimately conceded that he
could not authenticate the documents.

"That carries over for a lot of brands," Mr. Carson said. "Where
there are disgruntled customers out there who have done some
degree of organizing, the infrastructure is there for a major
attack to take place."

Mr. Rand, the Ketchum executive, said classifying detractors
helped companies decide whether and how to react. The Neistat
Brothers come from the "hear me" school, a group that can often
be assuaged by acknowledging their concerns and ameliorating any
problem, he said.

Left unchecked, "hear me" types can become "reputation
terrorists" who have a personal interest in publicly criticizing
a company, Mr. Rand said. "These are the folks we have to track
and stay on top of," he said. "To not do so can cost money."

There are, finally, "competitive destroyers," who may even be
competing companies willing to slander a rival, Mr. Rand said.
Companies can protect themselves against this group to some
degree by making as much truthful information available as
possible.

For now, though, even the targets of "Super Size Me" and
www.ihatestarbucks.com say they are not so concerned with
detractors.

Lara Wyss, a spokeswoman at Starbucks Coffee in Seattle, said the
company recognized that people used many means, including the
Internet, to voice their opinions. "With that said, the majority
of public responses to Starbucks are overwhelmingly positive,"
she said.

"We have daily face-to-face contact with our customers," said
Walt Riker, a spokesman at McDonald's in Oak Brook, Ill. "That's
a huge advantage. They let you know what they're interested in.
We don't need detractors."



Steev Hise |  steev at detritus.net | http://detritus.net/steev
read my excellent blog: http://steev.hise.org
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