infOpinions?

This is confusing. Steve Rubel starts work today with the world’s largest independent PR agency. At least he wrote that today is the first day, but he also wrote about Edelman Worldwide as his employer in present – not future – tense over the past few weeks. He is now a Senior Vice President for Word of Mouth Marketing.

We have graduates that either work for and/or intern(ed) with all three of the firms I’ll mention in this post. All reports, from all of those students, that I have heard are positive. I have not heard one discouraging word.

So, to see the following taking place at the firm that I believe is at the peak of their own “Edelman Trust Barometer” with their recent work for clients, this is just a very strange turn of events. Edelman, for instance, is PR Week’s Agency of the Year. Dove and Wal-Mart are just two examples of innovative campaigns. They have been blogging throughout their agency – before Rubel arrived – while others are just catching the train. They were the first to initiate public PR research on blogging.

Here is what has been happening. Critiques of others. Essentially he offers up “all hat, no cattle” labels to the competition.

The question arises. Is Micropersuasion an Edelman blog, regardless of disclaimers, or is it an independent voice?

Can a Senior Vice President be an independent voice? Can you effectively avoid the association?

On Friday, March 03, Rubel – 15 days after announcing he was joining Edelman – posted a criticism of Ruder-Finn.

If I were a prospective client, I would be eager to hear from the actual talent inside a PR agency. That’s what they’re buying. The same goes for ad agencies. But, um, that’s another story altogether. Blogs help both clients and agencies in the mating dance. So when are more agency-side marketers going to realize this?

Ads on blogs are good start, but I wish Ruder Finn would blog on their own site and join the rest of us in a real dialogue. For example, Ruder could have complemented this ad campaign with a blog on creativity – the theme of the ads.

Previously, on Wednesday, February 22 – six days after announcing he was joining Edelman Worldwide – Rubel went after Publicis (this year’s AdWeek Agency of the Year) with a slam.

Today the advertising empire struck back with an attempt to show that they are down with the people. So far it’s all hat, no cattle. The success or failure of this venture will not be judged by pronouncements like these but by the consumers who control the client messages to begin with.

On February 28, 2006, Rubel wrote about his first day as an Edelman employee. The first announcement of Rubel’s move to Edelman was posted on February 16, 2006. So, both of these have taken place “after” joining Edelman.

Strangely, Steve Rubel warned himself – and his readers – about the perils of criticising others on February 01, 2006.

What I take away from Rubel’s posts is a question?

Has Edelman hired – unwittingly – a hatchet man? Not exactly like Agnew, but the analogy works. Is Rubel going to milk this attack meme much longer? I do not mean to imply that Edelman Worldwide did this on purpose. In fact, I am certain they are not putting him up to this. I am certain they do not want this to be the voice of their agency in blogworld. Would you? I cannot believe that Edelman wants blogs to be used in any corporate bashing contests with competitors. They certainly haven’t counseled clients to do this.

Edelman Worldwide hired Rubel, if for nothing else, to benefit from his visibility. Well, this isn’t likely the meme they want to enter the relationship with floating around RSS feeds. Do you think?

Rubel posts, what for him is, an unlikely public transparency statement: “(Disclaimer: Edelman, my employer, is cited as a blogging firm and Ruder Finn is a competitor.)” He has not been known for practicing transparency for a long time. Now that may be an influence from Edelman showing through, but not the attacks on others.

I pose this question to Steve Rubel. This is the second attack of a competitor you’ve posted in about two weeks – and after joining Edelman. Will this continue? Is this what you are supposed to be doing for Edelman? Word of “Bad” Mouth(ing) the competition. I don’t think so. The trash talking SVP? Just doesn’t roll off the tongue.

One more post like this and it is starting to look like a train wreck in the making. Or, maybe Steve Rubel can help us understand the recent spate of attack posts. Why did they happen in this timeframe?

Rubel was often critical of Edelman in his blog before. Edelman hired him anyway. That speaks more to their desire to not hire people that say yes. Edelman illustrates broad open thinking with the move. Another positive for Edelman.

For me, I look at these posts and feel I should point my students to them with the warning: “Do not do this.” This is not what you want to do to your new boss’s corporation. Come in with a black eye of your own and a reputation for doling them out to others.

Edelman Worldwide is a PR family of almost 1,800 people. Steve Rubel’s one bad-mouth voice won’t change the admiration i have for the whole. But, could it do that for others?

Micropersuasion is a Feedster Top 100 blog and also a Technorati Top 100 blog. In any word of mouth effort (intended or not) he has a big head start.

WOM is a powerful tactic. Does Rubel understand that? It can also be destructive.

This will be an interesting test run of employee blogging occurring at the highest levels of an organization. Success or train wreck? Time will tell.