Re: Microsoft still considering image makeover plan

[Chris Pall <x97pall@wmich.edu>]

Sure why should they do otherwise? It's not like the public is the
government, the public can't force Microsoft not to lie....

Kris Shapar wrote:

> I found this story on one of my Net news services. So even though the
> PR campaign has already exploded in MS's face, they still are
> actively considering going ahead with it, insisting it's their right.
>
> ************************************************
>
> Microsoft still considering image makeover plan
>
> April 15, 1998
>
> PC Week via NewsEdge Corporation : Microsoft Corp. has acknowledged
> not only that it is actively considering a public-image make-over plan
> developed by an international public relations firm but also said that
> it's acting within its rights to do so.
>
> "We need to tell our story better at a local level," said Greg Shaw, a
> Microsoft corporate spokesman. "We want to be responsive and go out
> and tell our story."
>
> Shaw said Microsoft is considering possibly employing all or parts of
> a media campaign designed for it by Edelman Public Relations
> Worldwide, a company that has done work for the Redmond, Wash.,
> corporation in the past. Members of Microsoft's regional offices
> assembled in Chicago today to discuss the plan, a draft of which
> Edelman has presented to Microsoft. Edelman proposed the plan to
> Microsoft to help it combat negative public perceptions stemming from
> its ongoing and much publicized battle with the U.S. Department of
> Justice's antitrust investigation.
>
> According to Friday's issue of The Los Angeles Times, Edelman proposed
> planting articles, letters to the editor and other opinion pieces that
> would be commissioned by Microsoft's top media handlers but presented
> as spontaneous testimonials.
>
> "The idea that we'd hire people who wouldn't identify themselves as
> representing Microsoft is totally false," said Shaw. "Actually, the
> proposal we received is quite mundane."
>
> Shaw would not comment on when or if Microsoft might adopt the Edelman
> plan. "But there are no other such plans we are considering at this
> time," he added.
>
> Sources close to Microsoft who have watched the company's public
> relations efforts evolve over the years also downplayed the
> significance of the Edelman plan.
>
> "This kind of [public affairs] plan is just new to this industry. It's
> part of the standard arsenal of companies in the cable and TV
> industry, and in other industries where there's government
> regulation," said one source, adding, "The [Edelman] plan is pretty
> garden-variety stuff. It just seems unusual in our industry, which has
> focused on marketing and product promotion. Contrary to popular
> belief, Microsoft's not currently on the offensive. It's scrambling.
> Every time Microsoft is going in one senator's door, the competition
> is on its way out."
>
> But individuals on a variety of Internet sites and newsgroups that
> have been monitoring Microsoft's efforts to remake its public image do
> not view the Edelman plan as run-of-the-mill public relations. A
> number of posters expressed outrage and dismay after learning of the
> charges in the Los Angeles Times story.
>
> <<PC Week -- 04-13-98>>
>
> [Copyright 1998, Ziff Wire]
>
> Kris Shapar
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
> On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], "Pray,
> Mr.  Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right
> answers come out?"  I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of
> confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
>
>                 Charles Babbage
> ____________________________________________________________________

 

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                       Christopher Pall
                      ThinkBiz, DPS, WMU
                       Ann Arbor, MI USA

                      x97pall@wmich.edu
       http://members.tripod.com/~ChrisPall/index.html
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