Microsoft and Gay PR Lessons

TOPICS: Gay market. Apple computers. Microsoft. Gay Marketing. Lesbian and gay PR. Microsoft PR rep sends confidential memo to Wired magazine revealing PR tactics when interviewing with journalist.

You are at the Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site. |||| To reach our main site on lesbian and gay market research, gay advertising and gay marketing strategies, visit OutNowConsulting.com. To contact us, email info@outnowconsulting.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of our Sydney consultants sent me this.

PR experts are often very close to their work and perhaps don't see how it plays out to others.

A salutary case in point is the news coming out of Wired magazine regarding Microsoft and the ways its PR agency people try to zero in on journalists to try and get favourable PR coverage for Microsoft.

Nothing especially gay in that but it provides a few lessons.

Of course good PR requires good relationships between agency and client but if it gets to the level of Big Brother with spying on journalists by PR agencies then things really have tilted too far.

The other lesson is that care is always needed before hitting 'send' in this age of email and webspace technologies. What gets into cyberspace lives a very long time and can take on a life of its own.

Interestingly, Microsoft tests far less well in the gay market than does Apple which has a long history of appeal to lesbian and gay consumers. Out Now's research shows a lot of the things that consumers like about the Apple brand's market, advertising and PR positioning often fits well with the consumer's own perspectives of their own lives.

At Out Now, we think the key to successful PR is the word 'trust'.

Given many gay consumers own personal experiences of discrimination, there is a strong and inherent cynicism instilled in the gay consumer market that brands need to be aware of and understand if they hope to create effective gay market PR results.

Key amongst this is the need for the consumer to trust the brand's integrity in its market approach.

The relationships being established by us between our clients and the gay and lesbian consumer market work well because all involved know they can trust the gay PR and communications messages, and that transfers into trust for our client's brands.

Of course that only works when trust is earned, not manufactured.

Here is an extract of the Sydney Morning Herald article on PR issues, Wired and Microsoft:

Email exposes hard drive for good PR
March 29, 2007

An embarrassing email slip-up has exposed the tactics used by Microsoft's PR machine to generate favourable media coverage, which include secret dossiers containing detailed profiles on individual journalists.

The slip-up occurred when a representative of US public relations agency Waggener Edstrom, contracted by Microsoft, accidentally sent Wired magazine contributor Fred Vogelstein a confidential memo intended for internal distribution only.

The 5500-word memo contained meticulous notes on how Microsoft should manage a story Vogelstein was writing on the software giant, including details on his interviewing style and possible biases.

Ironically, the story was centred on Microsoft's recent attempts to change the perception that it is an overly secretive company.

"It takes him [Vogelstein] a bit to get his point across so try to be patient," the memo instructs Microsoft executives, alongside detailed notes on recent stories written by Vogelstein and observations that he was "tricky" and "digs for dirt"

Wired chose to publish the document on its website, and Vogelstein broke the news on his blog.

"As journalistic windfalls go this is about as good as it gets," said Vogelstein.


"There I was writing a story about how Microsoft is on the cutting edge of using the internet to become more transparent, and there in front of me are the briefing documents they are using to manage the story."

He was particularly surprised at the number of people Microsoft had dedicated to ensuring his story contained no surprises.

"Some transcribed the interviews I conducted; others kept notes on my every utterance for clues about what questions I might ask next and ultimately what my story would say; others briefed executives with questions I had asked and suggested good answers."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For further gay marketing information, or to seek gay market advice, please contact: Ian Johnson, MD, Out Now Consulting
UK landline: +44-20-8123 5288 BE landline: +32-2-514 6443
mobile: +32-4737 60886
web: OutNowConsulting.com
news: Gay Market News - Gay Market Updates by Out Now

Gay PR. Global gay PR marketing, gay PR strategy, PR, training, gay advertising, lesbian and gay market research leaders.
Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - The Out Now Gay PR Market Updates.
OutNowConsulting.com |||| GayMarketing101.com |||| Companies marketing & advertising to gays and lesbians. |||| Better understanding of the lesbian and gay consumer market. Gay market insight is Out Now.

gay market gay advertising gay marketing gay tourism gay travel pink dollar pink pound gay agency advertising marketing travel tourism gay lesbian gay and lesbian market research