Hot on the heals of the Motrinmoms apology, Delta reversed course on a decision that angered its platinum members.

While not exactly the same as this was a policy decision and not an ad, compare the email each commenter got  from Delta:

We heard you loud and clear.

Since we launched our Coach Choice Seats program that impacted Medallion® access to Preferred Seats, we’ve received substantial feedback from Medallion members like you, and your dissatisfaction was crystal clear.

Retaining your long-term loyalty is of paramount importance to us, and we’re not afraid to change course when we need to. Therefore, effective November 18th, we will revert back to the original Preferred Seat program offering Medallions unrestricted access to Preferred Seats.

Simply put: Medallion members will be able to book any of the seats you used to enjoy at the time of booking and without a charge.

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What an interesting 48 hours.  J&J’s Motrin brand and its advertising became the #1 word on Twitter (#1motrinmoms) and lit up the blogosphere and finally mainstream media with this ad.

More interesting, is that it supposedly was released on September 30 according to David Armano and AdAge.  What is fascinating is that the ad was run online with a goal of supposedly being sympathetic and appreciative of what parents do by using the term “babywearing” - and mom’s were offended. How offended?  You decide from this compilation:

The next time someone says: “Twitter - nah I don’t bother with that” - Just give them a Motrin!

Lessons to be learned:

1. In this day and age, brands must monitor sentiment

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Today marks the launch of Age of Conversation 2, a collaboration of 237 marketing professionals who blog in the U.S. and 15 other countries.  The submissions are categorized into 5 subjects all referencing the role of  conversation in marketing today.

The brainchild of bloggers Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, took off last year after they  invited other marketing professionals to commit to writing essays about conversation.  They had 103 contributors in seven days and raised over $15,000 for Variety, the international children’s charity.

This time around, they have 237 authors - 236 plus Moi.  The new book is now available in three formats – an e-book, softcover and hardcover.  All proceeds will again be donated to Variety, the international children’s charity.

Pricing for The Age of Conversation 2 is:

• e-book: US$12.50  ($10.00 going to charity)
• paperback book: US$19.95 ($8.02 to charity)

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Chuck Westbrook is out to help bloggers who write great content reach the audience they deserve.  Writing a blog is not easy.  Finding a voice, finding time to write, formatting, checking and getting your posts to say what you feel and then doing it again and again with no feedback gets old quickly.  And the motivation for staying the course may change for some and for others they just opt out and stop blogging.

Chuck has a great idea where influential bloggers will “introduce” blogs with good content to their audiences and rotate these under appreciated gems every two weeks.  Sounds like a great idea for the blogging community to support its fledgling brethren.

I for one would be honored to be considered as having great content and included.  I will have to post more consistently which I am sure is easier to do with a larger audience.  It is a bit of a cart behind the horse thing.

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Attached is a link to The Age of Conversation Podcast Episode 3 hosted by Jay Ehret with myself and David Armano.  David and I are 2 of 237 authors in the book each with a one page chapter.  The topic we both chose out of a number of topics was “The Accidental Marketer”.

I have followed David since I started reading social media blogs and am a huge fan of his work.  David writes at Logic+Emotion.  I came upon Jay’s Small Businees Marketing blog a few months ago and enjoy his practical advice, commentary and lessons. Check them out if you are not yet subscribing.

It was a real kick to chat with David and Jay and we had a great time. Listen to the Podcast or get it here: Age of Conversation Podcast: Episode 3 - The Accidental Marketer Starring David Armano and Gary Cohen

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I am a pretty heavy Firefox user with tons of add-ons that really are pretty awesome. DemoGirl turned me on to Flock it looks very very cool.

I am pretty confident that it is quickly going to be something that will be a major part of my web experience. Hope it lives up to the expectations. Seems like a great way to do what some of my plug-ins facilitate in a pretty intuitive way. Drag and drop inserts for blogging, clipping, all email accounts in one place, photo uploading, connections in one place for all my social networks accounts, feeds, and a whole lot more. Can’t wait to try it.

If you have experience with it/recommendations, please pass them along.

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I do not like chain emails at all.  Nor do I like Facebook challenges.  Both arrive when you can least afford to look at them or do them - and they come from someone you trust and like who you do not want to let down.  I would rather have real personal interactions. Furthermore, it really is SPAM FROM YOUR COMMUNITY.  And how can you block them in your Spam or junk mail filter?! 

What we never consider is that these chain messages come with a different type of “chain” attached.  Guilt, stress and agitation.    I often do not send them out as a requested to “50 of my closest friends and family” for a few reasons:

1. it guilts or obligates people to do something they often do not want to do
2. it adds to the deluge of information
3. it creates stress

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Are influentials guilted into accepting a seeded message or conversation starter for a brand by a friend?  I know that a number of those I have spoken to recently feel that they are being spammed with requests that are not targeted or relevant to that influential blogger or their audience.  And when they do choose to share a message (together with a potentially large number of other influential bloggers), some expressed that they can’t do it regularly as they do not want to be seen as a shill or adding to the noise/spam.   

What about transparency? Honesty? Truth?  Are they truthfully and honestly adding value to their community?  How about when people are asked to favorite a post on Digg, delicious, reddit, stumbleupon and others?  Is that shilling?  What if influencer outreach or SEO/SEM efforts cause so much buzz that they influence sales and a stock price? 

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275 bloggers are about to embark on Age of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get It? the sequel to The Age of Conversation which was published last year. The Age of Conversation was unique in that:

• 100 bloggers contributed roughly a 8.5″x11″ page of content
• Turnaround time was incredible
• All proceeds and referrals from the book went to charity

For the 2008 edition, there are:

• 275 contributors (including moi)
• An addition of a theme to the title: Age of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get it?
• A number of topics within that theme

I am excited to be joining some 274 very smart people from the business and marketing worlds. If the book by 100 contributors last year was anything to go by, this one will be a book to keep as well - and not just because I will be 1 of 275 authors this time around :-).

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Interesting interview of Stephanie Fireman by Paul Dunay at Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix today on practicing Brand Self Defense. Part of the interview discusses the damage done by comments posted by bloggers who not only do not know the facts, but do not know the circumstances or facts and the impact those posts have. Stephanie mentioned comments made by bloggers who did not know her that posted incorrect or potentially damaging information that shot up the Google chats.

Unfortunately that happens to people every day. Part of the quandary is the classic PR question - do I respond and validate - or let it slide? In an online environment everyone has the ability to share their thoughts publicly. With the long tail exacerbating the impact through links and referrals to the comments one has to comment/correct or actually join that conversation, unless you want to continue to see the story showing up in search results as “fact”. The worst part is that even if the blogger pulls down the post or redacts, RSS feeds ensure that the comments continue to live and they take on a life of their own - the genie is out of the bottle.

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