The Hobson and Holtz Report – Podcast #110: February 9, 2006

Content summary: Nvidia and its PR agency are accused of unethical viral marketing; follow-up to Google’s removal of BMW from its search; Gallup assesses the importance of blogs to web users; your value decreases the longer you’re unemployed; NPR opens the podcast floodgates; new services from Odeo; a report from Dan York; listeners’ comments discussion (time for effective communication in the EU; opening a window on culture; a report on the separation of PR and marketing); the music.

Show notes for February 9, 2006

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, a 73-minute podcast recorded live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Download the file here (MP3, 29.5MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a podcatcher such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon).

Listen to this podcast now:

In This Edition:

Intro:

• 00:28 Shel introduces the show; what the show’s about; how to give your feedback; show notes; what’s in today’s show

News and Commentary:

• 02:26 The dark side of viral marketing – are graphics card maker nVidia and PR firm AEG engaging in underhand practices in gamers’ forums and employing some peculiar PR tactics to respond to such accusations? We discuss wide-ranging commentary from Christopher Carfi, Thomas Hawk and the Digg crowd, adding our own perspectives as we ask: What should nVidia do to address this issue, and is such activity symptomatic of business un-ethics today? We also discuss a Wall Street Journal story today regarding FON and positive commentaries by bloggers who don’t fully disclose their interests.
• 28:58 BMW’s return to grace after trying to game Google; an alternative view that presents an ‘end justifies the means’ case for why brands should spam search engines
• 37:06 Was Google’s lack of engagement over the China search engine furore the right communication approach? Brad Bellaver thinks so
• 40:16 A Gallup report provides some answers to the question on how many people are reading blogs – is that even the right question? How this fits in with ideas from PR bloggers like Steve Rubel on developing new metrics about blogs and communication measurement
• 44:06 The longer you’re unemployed, the more your value decreases, according to a report from the Royal Economic Society
• 49:15 The podcast floodgates open at National Public Radio in the US with a directory featuring 250 titles from 79 public radio stations as podcast downloads reach 13 million
• 51:29 Odeo introduces a way you can record comments to podcasts, send audio messages and call in comments via a phone number
• 55:04 Steve Lubetkin shouts out!
• 55:33 Dan York reports – it’s snowing in Vermont, beta testing Windows Live Messenger, Gmail for mobile devices, moderating a panel discussion at IABC Yankee Chapter, can’t make it to the New Communications Forum next month but hopes to get to Vancouver in June for the IABC 2006 conference

Listeners’ Comments Discussion:

• 61:21 Philip Borremans says, yes, it’s about time for effective communciation by the EU
• 62:53 David Phillips opens a window on culture (and we say we’re looking forward to meeting David at the New Communications Forum)
• 66:28 Luke Armour‘s research into the separation of PR and marketing (we have copies and we will be talking about it soon)

Outro:

• 67:43 Neville wraps the show; let us know your views about today’s discussions; how and where to send your comments; where to find the show notes
• 69:49 Outro podsafe music via KillRockStars.com – The Unhappy Song by John Doe

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show are posted to the FIR Show Links pages at The New PR Wiki. You can contribute – see the home page for info.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at fircomments@gmail.com, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Monday February 13…

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)