Since my post on 10/24, Greenwashing is Now Greenbashing, I've received lots of mail asking what happened. For the most part, things worked out well after the president of Sabertec posted his side of the story on Treehugger.
If you're just coming into this, here's the quick background. One of my clients, Sabertec, was recently received glowing coverage on Treehugger for its new emissions control technology. Ironically, the coverage started an avalanche of negative comments that bordered on hostile. In fact, the validity of the writer and outlet were called into question. The president, Bill O'Brien, got right back on Treehugger and took on the mob's issues headfirst, and many folks wanted to know if it helped.
The positive outcome was mostly with the outlet. They fully appreciated the company standing up for itself, and because of Bill's counterpoints, they plan another follow up story (which is GREAT). The comments on the site didn't really reflect much change; most of the action happened before we posted. And the few people who slammed the product and writer continued to do so.
But what you wouldn't have seen is the action behind the scenes. Sabertec has been flooded with requests from distributors, retailers and interested individuals. It seems that while the skeptics throw darts, there are many more than turn to positive action.
To me, there are lessons learned:
1. Be Quicker: In the old days, a response turnaround of 24 hours would have been considered remarkable. Now it's almost too late. If we could have posted something within the first few hours, it would have helped to keep the mob a little more at bay. So even if the final approved statement isn't ready, jumping in and acknowledging the issues is very important.
2. Disarm the Skeptics By Raising Objections: If we had a penny for every "expert" that claims the blade doesn't work because it causes back pressure, we'd be on a beach somewhere. Moving forward, we will begin every interview by raising the common misconceptions and disarming them upfront.
3. Keep Moving Forward: "If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting to." Sabertec has invented something profound. Like most that have come before on this road, you'll meet more detractors than supporters. Don't worry. Stay on message and keep on pushing. The majority of the audience will be silently pleased you did.
We did a good job with this one, but it could have been better. The truth is that even for folks like us that have been working in the blogosphere and social media for a while, the level of vigilance needed continues to rise.
GO CBC! Love it.
Posted by: Robin Pifer | October 29, 2008 at 03:34 PM
This is a great story -- kudos to you all for putting yourselves out there. Nothing happens overnight, but by not backing down and intelligently responding to those greenbashing naysayers you turned it around -- and amazingly, those negative comments didn't seem to affect the calls from distributors, etc.
Posted by: Wendy C | June 10, 2009 at 06:27 PM