Steve Rubel Speaks (Finally)

Steve Rubel has broken his silence on the NY Times story and subsequent controversy concerning his new employer (Edelman), a client (Wal-Mart) and certain bloggers. Personally, I'm giving Steve the benefit of the doubt because I know he's a stand-up guy. And I think that given this recent controversy, Edelman needs someone like Steve internally to effect some real change there and make transparency the guiding principle at that agency.

I think Steve is just getting up to speed with his new gig, so it's obvious he wasn't involved with the whole Wal-Mart flap. I just hope that more Steve rubs off on Edelman than Edelman rubs off on Steve.

And I'm glad that Steve did post something about the controversy because leaving it unaddressed would have made folks think that there was more there than met the eye.

Maximum PC April

I recently picked up an issue of Maximum PC from a newsstand at Penn Station. Every once in a while, I pick up a copy of the magazine just for fun, but this month, the cover seemed to call out to me. The issue was all about freeing content from boundaries. If I had to characterize its tone, I'd say it was along the lines of "screw the man." The articles inside editorialized about the DMCA and how it screws your average, ordinary content consumer more than it screws pirating operations. Given that we've seen instances where major content publishers have been caught installing viruses on people's machines to prevent them from making copies of audio CDs, I'm inclined to agree with that point of view.

Anyway, back to the April issue. The bundled CD includes apps that facilitate copying DVDs, compressing them and getting them on other devices. I was particularly psyched to see utilities that could help me put movies on my Sony PSP and on my 60GB video iPod. This is great because I have an entire collection of DVDs laying around in my basement and I'd really like to make them portable without having to buy yet another hardware device.

I lent my copy (and the CD) to Eric so he can check it out, but I installed much of the CD on my laptop and have been messing with it on the train. Cool stuff - I'd like to get all six Star Wars movies on my iPod, seeing as how I've already paid for them on DVD. (In some cases, I've paid for them twice or three times. For instance, I have a copy of Episode IV on VHS. I also have a copy of the "Special Edition" of Episode IV on VHS. I also have a DVD of it.) I think I've paid for this movie too many times already - I should be able to put it on whatever portable device I fancy at the moment.

Regardless of the DRM schemes entertainment companies manage to push through, people are tired of paying over and over for the same content in different formats. And they're also getting tired of entertainment companies' ambiguity regarding whether users are being licensed content or sold a format. So they're going to do things like download apps that give them freedom to move content between devices. And the entertainment companies will once again be in the position of having to reinvent themselves, or pick up the lawsuits against 12-year-old girls.

Full Disclosure

I applaud Wal-Mart for reaching out to bloggers and feeding them bits of information, but there are a couple things wrong with their approach, in my opinion: 1) It doesn't appear that they've worked with bloggers to ensure transparency. I would place more of the blame for a failure to disclose on the bloggers themselves, but an agency as smart as Edelman should know better than to take a chance that they will be perceived as puppetmasters.

2) (The biggie.) Edelman shouldn't be handling the relationships with bloggers. Wal-Mart should be doing that. The program in question simply looks like a mere extension of traditional PR, and I think that's selling conversational marketing short. Wal-Mart should ultimately be responsible for conversing with their customers, critics and supporters. Otherwise, how does Wal-Mart ever have a chance to be able to participate in conversations, particularly if they have to coordinate responses through a PR agency and God knows how many other corporate channels?

Of course, I'm assuming that Wal-Mart and Edelman are telling the truth when they say they're not compensating bloggers. If that's not the case, then there's a lot more wrong with this.

Last Week In The Office

This is my last week in the office before Lauren and I visit my Dad in Florida. I'm looking forward to some warm weather and a week away from the office. That's not to say that work won't be on my mind. There are two nagging things I need to devote some time to thinking about while I'm away, and they're the type of things that require relatively long periods of uninterrupted brain churning - exactly the type of thinking that is most difficult to pull off during this latest boomlet in the marketing services industry.