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I am not sure if you have ever said something mean about someone and then had to face it, but I am pretty good at doing that. TO be honest, I was shocked that General Mills, or rather David Witt, emailed me just a mere 6 hours after my rant about the article that was posted on BrandWeek. Somewhere between “Oh crap” and “am I gonna get sued” and “omg, I called him DimWitt” I burst out laughing and wondered if a conversation with them would be beneficial.
David was nothing but professional and polite in our email exchanges…here is how that happened:
1st email from GM:
Trisha:
I read your blog post from today and would really like to get on the phone with you along with some team members from MyBlogSpark to talk more. Could I please give you a call if you have a free moment?
David Witt
My response:
Dear Mr. Witt,
I apologize if I offended you personally, but that article came off quite condescending and turned into a 4 page forum post on the MomDot forum by quite a few angry bloggers before we took it to our pages in defense. General Mills was definitely the punch line but my sentiments were meant to instruct and inform bloggers that this superior attitude of corporations is truly offensive on its own. Our community is influential largely because it holds an influential blogging voice, and not just our own, and we want the bloggers to recognize it.
If you are interested in speaking to gain a better understanding how we feel bloggers can be a more valuable and respected member of your corporation, I am interested in speaking. However if the conversation is mainly for a defense of General Mills and My Blog Spark, it may be better served in a response directly in the comments of the original post where visitors of MomDot may also view your position, rather than relying from my perspective.
My phone is xxx-xxx-xxxx. I am on central time zone and can be caught 8-12 M-F, between 2:15-4 M-F and most evenings after 830pm.
Sincerely,
Trisha
His response:
Trisha:
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I would like to call you tomorrow morning if that works for you. And, it isn’t a defense of General Mills. We really want to learn and you bring up some great points.
Copying Stacy Becker on this message. She works closely with MyBlogSpark and if you don’t mind, I would like to have her join the call.
Thanks.
David Witt
This morning David called. He was as I expected good-natured and normal; what I didn’t expect was that he wasn’t really defensive regarding General Mills or my post about the article, but rather open and interested in how we felt. In his words, they want to “learn” from bloggers and needed the feedback to do it better. He said he did appreciate the points I made in the post, even making a joke that he prefers to be called “half-witt” rather than the eloquent “dim-witt” I dubbed him.
While only time will tell how General Mills, My Blog Spark, and Coyne PR responds to embracing and exciting bloggers in social media, I can honestly say the fact they took time to call and listen to what I had to say (and as usual it was long winded), does say a lot for their interest in the growing and influential hold that moms have online. Its not every day General Mills calls you up to ask your opinion.
Although I apologized for the attitude I took with his name (it was the professional thing to do), he said that zero apologies were needed and that he was happy to have the feedback and open the door to talking with bloggers. I will mention that we did briefly discuss the article (please note that this is a summary and not exact word for word) and he said not only was it misquoted, but much of the info printed in it was incorrect or out of context. For example, on the quote regarding not buying ads on blogs, he said obviously they buy ads on blogs (as they bought one here) but that the question the reporter asked him was not “do you buy ads on blogs”, but are you going to buy ads on the blogs as part of the My Blog Spark campaign and the answer was no on that. That campaign was a specific review/giveaway campaign. However, it was printed as if GM doesn’t purchase ads at all, thereby coming off as bloggers are not ad worthy. He also said that there were media costs, it was not cost free and that was also incorrect in the article. I can read people very well and he was very sincere when he said that they do appreciate and care about the bloggers that work with them and wanted to know how they can recognize bloggers better.
I think one thing I learned about all of this is that companies and bloggers are trying to find a way to meet in the middle and its much like hostage negotiation. One side has a goal, the other side has a goal, but neither side can truly understand the perspective of the other side without open communication. Bloggers are NOT PR and are NOT the companies but at the same time, PR and the corporations involved are not the Bloggers. Bloggers involve their whole being into their blogs, often spending the same, if not more hours than a regular 9-5 job on advertising, marketing, and developing their blogs and do it because they love it. We are emotional, volatile, passionate, interested and much more than an editorial. Our audiences are not there to learn about products but to be involved in our life and community and that is why bloggers are so valuable. They truly can be a face for a product if it comes from a genuine voice.
We want companies to come and build excitement that generates an organic movement via the blogosphere and leaks to the media around us as a brand that ‘gets it’. What companies and PR have to realize is not only are bloggers talking on their blogs about the good and the bad in a public atmosphere, but they are also talking behind the scenes in increasingly growing numbers. In fact, our post generated from an already heated discussion in our forum that had gotten several pages long by a variety of bloggers prior to us writing it at all. For example, when companies tell bloggers they don’t have products to send out to one blogger but turn around and send them to another blogger, chances are, we know about it. No one wants to be lied to. We share information about PR firms, individual reps, the best and worst companies, the good and the bad pitches, and more. If your a company that hasn’t followed through on a giveaway product, in a blink of an eye 300+ bloggers in our community have a bad taste for you-and that is just in our sub-city here, imagine where it goes Internet wide. While bloggers can lift a company up, it can certainly black ball it as well. Social media can be your friend or your enemy in one viral swoop.
At the end of the day dealing with corporations all bloggers have are their connections and hopefully the respect and appreciation of the companies that so desperately are evolving their presence in the ever changing media. Its very easy to flood the market with links and pictures of products, but not so easy to gain a solid and involved group of online leaders who want to carry that brand to the next level because they believe in the company and its message.
I am not asking to get rich, I am not asking to have ads bought every month, I am not asking to be invited to Disney World on a special trip, but a little gold star for a job well done never hurts the morale.
I do believe General Mills is on that path thanks to their forthcoming and head on attitude by responding. It shows us that companies are listening but more importantly that we have the power to not only shake up the industry, but to shape it to better improvements for us all.
~trisha
PS- I follow linked you this time.
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I have always enjoyed familial advertismations that general mills can aquire at will . As I have known of the xxx divisions of the company . I nowdays find that just a good time with such a product or products such as BD company have always kept the family going .Still a supporter of some of the tastiest cereals to date .
I think this post and your original were great and I appreciate that you shared the information.
I also think you were correct in your original aritcle about the “form a union.” While I’m sure that is not entirely possible, bloggers are at a disadvantage because we are not a combined group like the companies and the PR firms. This hinders our ability to negotiate with companies and PR firms and come to some standard set of terms.
I’m not sure that came out exactly the way I was thinking it so I hope it made sense.
It sounds to me like Carrie is just trying to head warning and offer advice and everyone is throwing up defenses and getting upset when she’s only trying to help. Geesh… do you turn down a bandaid too when you’ve skinned your knee? Take the advice and do with it what you wish. I added a disclaimer to my blog after reading a post from Jessica Knows and one from Resourceful Mommy. It’s smart to cover yourself…just in case:)
I’m glad they got back to you.
Personally, I believe that Trisha handled this well and professionally. How many times in the media are we offered both sides? That is rare and not only did Trisha offer both sides (which she most certainly did not have to do).
This whole thing actually boosted my opinion of GM. They handled it well. Instead of tucking their tails between their legs & hiding, they stepped up and set the record straight. I found David Witt to be candid and forthcoming.
I am actually loving this whole thing. It truly shows that the voices of bloggers are heard. I think that is what the majority of us want.
I’m beginning to think maybe Carrie works for some media outlet here in the US. I have seen such a biased slant in our media it’s, dare I say communist. Our media is so censored and so slanted you’ll never get an impartial view in any traditional news source. That’s one reason I like blogs. They’re one big Letter to the Editor. And quite frankly is someone doesn’t like my opinion, they can suck it, click to another page and move on. I’m not forcing you to read my blog.
@ Trisha-admin:
well said Trisha.
I’m glad the conversation went well with GM, it sounds like it was quite productive.
Trisha-admin wrote:
Well said, Trisha. Our blogs are our opinions only, unless stated otherwise. I thought that was common knowledge. Do we need to put up a disclaimer for every post now stating “sarcasm”, “my opinion”, “STFU”, etc.? I guess we all need a “Terms and Conditions” agreement added to our blogs that must be agreed to before</i> reading any of our content, huh? Are people really that afraid to state their own opinions and stand behind them? DANG!
@ Carrie:
The one thing I did do was go to school for 5 years about the law…so nothing I said was slander or libel worthy. I didn’t make any false claims about the company, didn’t use their logos or pictures, or take any copyrighted information from their site, and only quoted the words they allowed someone they interviewed with to print and added my opinion. For a libel or defamation case to take place, they would have to prove I made statements of fact, not statements of opinion. Additionally, I made statements on the reasonable belief that their statements were true, which is an absolute defense.
On top of it, after the issue was addressed, I shared both sides as well, which also shares that my intent was not to harm General Mills, but to address a specific issue. Honestly, what would give a company more bad press…me complaining about them or them suing me for complaining about them?
Lawsuits do not scare me in the slightest. I am a huge advocate of freedom of speech and I would be happy to go to bat for it.
If you read through the actual complaint, it says very little about the company at all, other than quoting the article and using it as a basis to talk about the larger issue at hand, which is companies relationships with bloggers.
What I posted still falls under freedom of speech, not slander, of this I am 100% positive.
In this case, the point is moot. They reacted and were not only kind, but said the article made great points and planned on improving.
Sometimes the voice of the minority is the majority if it can scream the loudest. I plan on being that voice as long as as I live in America.
Trisha
@ Trisha-admin:
I’m just saying tread carefully. The rules are changing. Opinions, rants, whatever you want to call them, can lead to dangerous places. Bloggers are getting named in suits.
Of course you were right to assume the Brandweek story was right. But you went pretty hard after General Mills and by their take, they have done nothing wrong. (I see no correction on the Brandweek site, by the way. I would think GM would have gotten that information corrected by now.)
So just saying that before we name-call and base posts on information that may or may not be true, stop and think…You’re dealing with multi-million dollar corporations who have pitbulls on staff that would love nothing more than to send you some scary slander letter just for fun …
Carrie wrote:
Clearly, Carrie, you are unaware of how blogging works. Blogging is our opinions – we get online, write our posts about things that happen to us, things we like, dislike, recipes we like and want to share. Should I check the facts on whether or not my recipe tastes better with 3 tsps of sugar or 2?
Trisha fired off her opinion on the article, and she wasn’t alone. General Mills and other such big companies WANT that opinion, or else there wouldn’t be such a thing as focus-groups or big-name companies like Walmart creating their ElevenMoms campaign looking for opinions. Companies come to us because they want OUR OPINION. There is no fact-checking involved there.
And where was the fact-checking when Jessica Smith was interviewed by the WSJ last week and decimated in that article with the journalists use of her quotes, picking and choosing how best to slay her in the article by misquoting her horribly?
You know, at least we have the decency to tell it like it is, like it or not.
I was a bit concerned when reading your rant thinking, yikes, careful Trisha …I’m glad it all worked out! Both of you stepped up to the plate.
Now given that bloggers have been around for a while, how about charging companies for reviews & giveaways? Everyone’s upset that they’re doing all this work for free, bloggers unite and get paid!
Cost could be based on the dollar amount of the item and descretion given to size of company. So us little mom start-ups don’t pay as much as a larger biz. You’re giving your time away for free – I’m amazed that you did so much for Dyson and got nothing in return.
@ Carrie:
Are you serious? We should check facts before we hit publish? Um… NO!
Perhaps I need to add a disclaimer to my header…
WHAT YOU READ HERE IS MY OPINION, I AM NOT A DOCTOR, I AM NOT A LAWYER, I AM NOT A REPORTER, I SIMPLY TYPE WHAT I THINK… IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, MOVE ON!
@ Carrie:
Carrie, unfortunately when a reporter publishes something, you assume those ARE the facts. I should never have to go behind a magazine or newspaper to double check a statement and I do believe that if David knew the article was grossly negligent and being published, he should have required a retraction on them. I took a quote directly from the source that their organization spoke with.
We, as bloggers, are opinion writers. We write our opinions based on previously published material and more often, how we feel. In fact, those are the very reasons companies like General Mills utilizes us in their campaign.
I am not a reporter, a journalist, I have zero formal training in writing, I have terrible grammar, and I’m shocked every day that people give 2 cents what I think-which I find incredibly interesting every moment of every day. I don’t even pretend I am a journalist, I am a simply a personality.
However, I did my responsibility for my community. I wrote the article, but when GM responded, I wrote their response in its entirety.. I took the call and on their behalf, I corrected the mistakes of the reporter prior. Even as ‘just a blogger’, I got it more right than a ‘professional’.
On top of it, I gained an open relationship with the very company I could have sat by and been silently upset over. I have a feeling Mr. Diwitt and I will have a long and mutually beneficial partnership.
~Trisha
I am glad it worked out and obviously Mr. DeWitt is first class, or he knows that you and others can blast him again with the hit of the “publish” button and he behaved.
The lesson here is that bloggers need to be responsible before they write posts and they must check facts. Reporters never would be able to write columns saying what you did without first calling General Mills, asking to speak to DeWitt and checking the facts — either with him or his spokesperson.
Until bloggers learn they just can’t fire and post, they will not be taken as seriously as mainstream media. Yes, many bloggers are just as serious and just as “important” but the overall tribe needs to learn some basics of journalism and writing if the blog thing is to grow beyond “Hey, let’s get this mommy blogger to write about us for yogurt cups.”
I was a newspaper reporter for nearly 20 years.
Did you charge them for the consultation? LOL I’m kidding of course- great job and I am glad you are able to speak so well for all of us.
I had a company very recently that kept telling me they were sending product for review, etc. etc. but nothing ever came but a lot of excuses. I put their logo on my site building up to the post – an more excuses, no product. Finally took it down and said the company isn’t worth dealing with – the whole time I found a bunch of other bloggers listing reviews and doing giveaways for the same company.
I think I’ll blog and tweet about that – I’m sure that my 3500 followers might be interested….
Thanks
Well we will see if Mr. Witt is actually sincere or not.
I agree with what you said about companies telling one blogger they have no products to give for a contest , but turn around and give a product to another blogger for a giveaway. I just found out that a company that came to me for a review and told me they have NO PRODUCTS/GIFT CERTIFICATES TO GIVE OUT AT THIS TIME lied to me. I found another blog giving away a $25 GC for that company 3 days after I was told no. It makes me not want to do the review of this product.
Honesty and transparency guys…You can’t hide from us. If you give it to one, you have to give it to the whole class.
As for Mr. Witt being misquoted, well he could be doing a bit of CYA or it could just be more proof that MSM/Newspapers/Paid Journalists are not all that ethical, while 99% of bloggers are. (Take that all you haters). We’ll see. I am not exactly convinced by Mr. Witt’s “sincerity”.
I applaude General Mills for there quick response to your blog post to clarify a misunderstanding and to open the lines of communication with bloggers.
I applaude you Trisha for your passion for the blogging community and willingness to share your true opinions on subjects that affect all bloggers.
I hope all the big corporations take notice and decide to deal in a fair and professional manner with bloggers and recognize that the blogging community is highly respected and looked up to for true and honest opinions on products and services.
Sincerely, Kim Litchford
Blogger in Training
It sounds like your conversation went well this morning and it was productive and voices were heard. It will be interesting to see what comes of it next
I’m really pleased with how they responded. The reacted promptly and in the right way. I hope they are listening and learning from this and will embrace bloggers for their true value.
I’m glad that you were able to talk to the GM people and get things cleared out. And I really appreciate the fact that you blogged so openly about the conversation.
I think that we all need to remember two key things 1) Stuff you read in the press is OFTEN misquoted and taken out of context. 2) We’re all new at this and we’d be better off helping each other learn rather than pointing the finger when someone screws up.
Thanks for covering this whole issue this week. One company at a time we’ll figure a way to work together that’s beneficial for all.
That is so nice to hear! GM has my total respect now.
I personally don’t have enough info or experience to have an opinion on this subject, but I do appreciate that both you and General Mills were able to have a discussion about this, and also, that you were honest enough to post it for us instead of just pretending it didn’t happen so you could continue to rant or something (I feel like people do that sometimes…) All in all, very interesting posts.
I would have liked to be a fly on that wall… thanks for taking the lead
I’m so glad you are such a great blogger advocate. You give all of us bloggers a voice and its good to know that these companies hear us. I’m glad the conversation went well!
I’m glad it went well! Thank you Trisha for taking the steps towards making mom bloggers more valuable and respected
Im pleasantly surprised to read it was an actual conversation and not a forum in defense of GM
Very interesting. I’m glad things ended on a professional and somewhat happy note! I was dying to find out what he had to say! Thanks for sticking up for all of us Trisha, very informative indeed!
Like I said to you on Twitter, there needs to be some kind of summit. I see a room full of bloggers, marketing execs, PR people and corporate representatives gathered around a table full of empty take out containers laying it all on the line. We have a meeting of the minds, find the middle ground and everyone leaves with a smile on their face. Could be wishful thinking on my part, I know. Kudos to General Mills and Mr. Witt for walking the walk and taking the time to have an honest dialogue.
Lori wrote:
oh lord, how did that happen. ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear that everything I do is backwards today. I have an autosystem and apparently its auto smarting me.
This has been a very interesting discussion to follow. Thanks for letting us know how the conversation went — my impression of General Mills’ PR/ blog relations is definitely improved. That being said, I still feed my kids organic oatmeal bought in bulk from my co-op instead of boxed Cheerios — it’s better for them.
for the record, you are using nofollow.
It will be interesting to see how this episode impacts GM and other large corporations. It really is remarkable how many people are reading/writing/influenced by blogs these days. It can be a huge marketing resource for companies if they go about it right.
Thanks for sharing the follow-up! It’s pretty amazing how fast they caught up with you. Looks like the corporate world is really watching the blog world these days!
“PS- I follow linked you this time.”
ROFL
I think it is fantastic that he reached out to you in this way and I am impressed at the way he handled the situation.
That was extremely well-put and I am glad the conversation was productive. I really do not think that many PR reps know that we share our experiences with each other. Maybe this will help to open the eyes of some reps who do tell each blogger something different regarding their units on hand, what blog stats they require, etc . . .
It’s great that he seemed to listen to what you had to say, but actions speak louder than words. I hope he knows we’ll all be watching GM now to see if they follow through.
Sounds like you had a productive conversation. I’m going to have to let this topic stew for a bit and come back when my thoughts are ready.