The Costly Education of the Chris Clarke

Forget the silly "cede control" stuff, as well as all the endless vacuous "conversation" and intimate virtual "relationships" with the populace mob. Hold that thought. Among the fundamental flaws in this messianic Me2Revolution hoopla head-up-your-ass Kool-Aid-induced blog fad, probably the worst is that everyone in your organization is now a spokesperson. What complete and utter nonsense. This week we saw a prime example. A chatty effervescent junior junior at the PR firm Thornley Fallis made his firm and its veritable eagle scout CEO Joe Thornley look like a ridiculous lightweight (pictured right).

First, a little background: where did this silly belief come from? Edelman's Rubel, we suspect. We trace it back to March '06. In an article then Steve asked: "Who is a corporate spokesperson? Is it any employee who blogs, the CEO, who? My theory is that every company that has bloggers has multiple 'spokespeople.'" (Imagine! Coming from an SVP! Gotta be right up there with his classic Edelmanism: "Marketers should become the wind, but accept that they're at the mercy of the currents and weather. Word of mouth marketing, when done right, is the wind." Yiiiish! But I digress.)

When any sober CEO is presented with the idea of this multi-headed asynchronous talking hydra, here's what they imagine: The creepy Fascist security guy Dominic, Crying Mary in accounting, Pothead Mike from Creative Services and Julio the maintenance man, all unscripted on the conference call representing the company at the Quarterly Earnings Report. Oh yes... and with license to say just whatever comes to mind first. That, by definition, is organizational Tourettes.

Why? Because to imagine that the mob thinks and acts with ANY sense of coordination or pre-thought is ridiculous. To that staccato, add that today disciplined thinking is OUT. Free unbridled real-time expression and ungrounded opinion is king. Forget "children should be seen and not heard.” Today, if you don't know what you're talking about, well... then blog it, of course. Today, we live in a society where any opinion from anyone about anything is as good as anyone else's opinion. Perception trumps reality. Forget quality; we just want more. Pump the volume!

Well, that is until the CEO has to bear the consequence of junior's statements. Richard Edelman surely rolls his eyes at some of the things Rick Murray says let alone Rubel, all while poppa Dan shakes his head at his liberal rod-sparing son.

Here: This week on behalf of Thornley Fallis, young Chris Clarke wrote a feature article for the Blog Herald, “Public Relations: Still Learning Social Media.” Here are a few choice quotes:

I barely even work in PR anyway - I mostly answer the phone and eat a bag lunch.

I’m not going to pretend that I have a higher PR IQ than, well, anyone.

Oh, and I’m in my eighth month [in PR] now.

I really have no qualification to write anything on the subject of PR at all, especially for the Blog Herald (and get paid for it!).

Another reason PR professionals aren’t catching on with social media: nobody is teaching them! Personally, this is my biggest issue. Working in my office, everyone is expected to “get it” but nobody takes the time to teach anyone what “it” is.

Excuse me! Chris represents Thornley Fallis. That's the firm talking!

Here’s an entertaining 20-second video clip that makes a memorable point.

Imagine your organization with 1,000 Billys. The real question is: Who gave Billy the microphone in the first place? Well, in the case of Thornley Fallis, it was Joe Thornley himself. According to a colleague here who spoke with Joe, he said that he actually “encourages Chris to express himself independently.”

Bottom line: what does that say? Like a Richard Edelman, if you screw up the communications of your own communications firm, why in bloody hell should anyone hire you to represent their valuable property? Add to that the Internet makes this kind of mistake indelible.

Can companies afford corporate Tourettes? Better yet, can they afford the risk of hiring a PR firm that believes it's a good thing?

Joe? You want Chris to answer that?

THORNLEY’S RESPONSE 1/15/07: “That’s the reason my blog carries a disclaimer, ‘This blog site is published by and reflects the personal views of its author(s).’ I want people to know that I stand behind my comments personally. Of course, the company is a reflection of the people who work at it. So, while people (including me) are not speaking for the company, we cannot avoid linkages being made.”

HELLO! Joe is now claiming that on his company blog he does not necessarily speak for the company that bears his name. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE KILL ME!

You know, when I think about quitting Strumpette every so often; that’s why. The insanity and naivety of Joe's statement is absolutely incurable.