Memo to CEO - How to launch a counter-attack on the blogosphere

Market Sentinel are a UK based firm dealing with online monitoring and response.

Here is one of their posts on their blog which illustrate how an organisation can help its brand on the web by using a blog.

The example is a corporate blog, done by food company Whole Foods.

As Mark Rogers of Market Sentinel writes "Whole Foods CEO John Mackey clearly realised the huge threat to his brand from author Michael Pollan’s book the Omnivore’s dilemma and used the blog to take a lot of trouble in answering the detailed points Pollan had made.....Pollan had not approached Whole Foods during the writing of the Omnivore’s Dilemma. In the book he criticised Whole Foods and compared it to Wal-Mart for, he said, failing to source locally...... John Mackey produced chapter and verse supporting his contention that Whole Foods indeed sourced produce locally."

As Mark observes regarding the success of the blog:

" Pollan emerges a little battered from the exchange. Mackey is commended for his transparency. He seems to have spiked the guns of those who were setting Whole Foods up to be a corporate villain in the organic foods arena. "

In my view this illustrates one of the key issues regarding blogging and social media. It is tool that anyone can use not just tecchy oriented people who may have an axe to grind against a corporate.

Comments

[Justin Patten]

Ricardo, Thanks for the comment. Your podcast looks interesting for those wanting to know more about the issues involved.
Justin

[Ricardo Rabago]

WOW, you got that right! But John Mackey also quickly took Michael's advise to focus more on local goods, "LOCAL is the NEW Organic"... during the day I work for a local Organic and Natural grocery store in Seattle, WA and during the night as a podcast professional producing passionate podcasts for Organic and Natural lifestyles.

If interested Organically Speaking has released a conversation with Michael Pollan podcast (audio conversation). Interesting tidbits on farmers markets, CSAs, and more!

Some Podcast Show Note Questions:

Q) Why the price difference between conventional food and organic and how do we go about bringing down organic food prices?

Q) How can small local organic farmers remain local in a capitalistic system?

Q) What is the "Food Web" you briefly touch on in your book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.

http://OrganicallySpeaking.org

All the best,
-Ricardo

Holistic Conversations for a Sustainable World

[Easton Ellsworth]

Thanks for the heads-up and great links. These'll be great for studying ...