From Peter Shankman's terrific blog.
http://shankman.com/be-careful-what-you-post/
This
particular Twitter posting came back to bite the agency person from
Ketchum (New York office) who made some unflattering remarks about
Memphis this morning before he presented on digital media to the
worldwide communications group at FedEx (150+) people. Not only did an
employee find it, they were totally offended by it and responded to the
agency person. The kicker is that they copied the FedEx Coporate Vice
President, Vice President, Directors and all management of FedEx’s
communication department AND the chain of command at Ketchum. Mr.
Andrews, the Ketchum presenter, did not take into account that many
FedExers are native Memphians and are feircely defensive of their city
and their company.
Mr. Andrews,
If I interpret your post correctly, these are your
comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global
headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the
home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history
of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith.
Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do
not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum
annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us
around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a
greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as
a vice president at a major global player in your industry. A hazard of
social networking is people will read what you write.
Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the
area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime,
prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a
major political, community, religious, and business effort underway,
that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over
time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.
James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in
the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first
paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut… which we wholeheartedly
support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of
doing whatever it takes to protect jobs.
Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S.
recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the
global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense
of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work
that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals
with decades of experience in television production.
Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the
context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see
much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we
do in Employee Communications.
Be careful, people. In this day and age, you can’t afford not to.
