Blogger waging war on Land Rover
Yesterday I wrote a brief post about customer relationship issues and Dell and how an influential US blogger had vented his spleen on his blog detailing his negative experiences with the PC maker.
I noticed a trackback ping to that post from another blogger who's waging a war in a blog on car maker Land Rover regarding their Discovery 3 SUV. In his post, he says:
[...] To date I haven't had a response from Land Rover's PR Manager or their PR company Harrison Cowley. I wonder if its because they don't understand Blogs or maybe its just arrogance and they don't care about what their customers are saying.
So what's this about? In a post last month, the unnamed UK blogger says:
[...] My Demand and the resolution I seek: I want Land Rover to admit publically that my car was a first build F*** Up - I want them to replace it with a new one and (at this stage) I am still prepared to pay in some money for the mileage I have done to date - but they still need to compensate me for the humiliating breakdown; the terrible experience with Land Rover Assist and the overall shoddy, complacent and ineffectual post sales service I have encountered thus far.
So far I have written to the dealership without any response, Land Rover's PR company and the Head of Communication of Land Rover - also without any response - Today I spent £500 on Google Ad Words and Search Engine Optimisation services and hopefully this Blog will start creeping up in the Land Rover Discovery Searches - it already is being referred by Yahoo and Google and is getting 175 hits per day!
Powerful stuff. Read his following posts to see how the story develops, from hopes rising and hopes plummeting.
The only thing I'm a bit hesitant about is that nowhere on the blog that I can see does the blogger identify who he (or she) is. That somewhat lessens the credibility of this campaign. Is it Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells? No, that's probably the wrong demographic from another age. Maybe bring it up-to-date to Pissed Off from Preston?
Or could it be a stunt by the PR agency, Harrison-Cowley? No, that stretches credibility a bit (a lot).
So, Landrover.HaveYourSay.com, let's have a little clue...
[UPDATE] More than a clue, now we know who the blogger is - he left a comment to this post with a link to a new post on his 'war blog' which links to his main blog.
Thanks, Adrian, for coming out! Best of luck with this campaign. I hope your news gets picked up by more bloggers (and a journalist or two). Equally, I hope someone at Harrison-Cowley and Land Rover starts paying attention.
[UPDATE 13/7/05] Adrian says he's now done a deal with Land Rover for a replacement vehicle. This solution presents an interesting opportunity for Land Rover...
Is this the way to have a go at their PR? I don't think so.
Posted by: Dennis Howlett | 12 July 2005 at 17:13
Who am I? The answer lies at www.haveyoursay.com
Posted by: Adrian | 12 July 2005 at 17:40
I've offered Adrian a few pointers (if I could put a wink or two here, I would!) He has a great opportunity to get 'the' story. Of course, the PR bunnies will hate him if he delivers...
Posted by: Dennis Howlett | 12 July 2005 at 19:39
I've offered Adrian a few pointers (if I could put a wink or two here, I would!) He has a great opportunity to get 'the' story. Of course, the PR bunnies will hate him if he does the business...
Posted by: Dennis Howlett | 12 July 2005 at 19:48
Dennis, I think it will be very interesting to see how this develops and what influence any blog post might have played.
Not to mention a successful resolution of Adrian's actual and real issue, of course ;)
Posted by: Nevon | 12 July 2005 at 20:58
I've no doubt of the sincerity or accuracy of Adrian's message, but I wonder what the impact of a similar campaign might be on a company when the complaint is not legitimate. An activist group, disgruntled ex-employee, labor union, or any of a host of opposition groups could use this tactic to damage a company that has done nothing wrong. Scary.
Posted by: Shel Holtz | 12 July 2005 at 22:56
Go get 'em fella!
Posted by: Dennis Howlett | 13 July 2005 at 00:35
I agree on Shel's comment. We also discussed this at the Blogstorm at Ogilvy in Brussel. How can we check integrity of both company and weblogger? And besides this, the weblogger is in control and when he writes things which are not true it will be in the collective brain of internet forever. What about that? Indeed, scary.
Posted by: Hans Mestrum | 13 July 2005 at 10:20
I don't buy this what happens if it's wrong/untrue stuff. If the blogosphere is self-regulating then rubbish drifts to the bottom doesn't it?
Posted by: Dennis Howlett | 13 July 2005 at 11:33
Hans, good points. I'd agree with you (and Shel) that anyone posting untrue commentaries on a blog that attack an organization could cause major damage to that organization.
Yet such actions have been going on for years on websites by less-than-scrupulous people, so there's nothing new there.
I think it again illustrates a strong reason why an organization and its advisers (PR agency, for instance) must invest time and effort in paying close attention to what's being said about your organization on the internet. That includes blogs.
Dennis has an interesting point, don't you think?
Posted by: Nevon | 13 July 2005 at 13:13
@neville and Dennis: yes I hope and think the blogosphere is selfregulating, but again when the 'conversation' starts the damage is done. Ok you can have this communicated but the thrashes on the internet cannot be wiped out even if they are untrue. But as you said Neville: nothing new there. But think of this: 85% of the marketeers is not reading blogs...?! So who is paying attention? Not many now.
Posted by: Hans Mestrum | 13 July 2005 at 13:40
I think the damage can always be mitigated.
All the company would have to do is sue Blogger X for libel and send out press releases after winning the judgement.
The media outlets would eat it up -- "Blogger Gets Busted For Bogus Banter".
Posted by: Eloi George | 14 July 2005 at 14:20