Last fall, DaimlerChrysler’s North American operations received a lot of criticism and bashing for the Sept. 12 launch of its media-only blog: www.thefirehouse.biz. (See my post here for background and early details.)
After a bit of e-mail correspondence with Editor Ed Garsten — former Detroit bureau chief for CNN and Detroit News automotive reporter — it looks like the blog has been successful.
First some of the basics: 600 registered traditional and online journalists (bloggers, too, including me) from 12 countries. Grown from less than 100 at the launch.
In any marketing or communications effort, we must answer: Has it been worth it? Was/Is it justified?
According to Garsten, yes.
TheFirehouse has definitely been worth it. Journalists tell us they find it valuable when they’re looking for story ideas, or just bits of “string” for current and future stories. The campaign [Vice President of Communications for DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group] Jason [Vines] launched to minimize use of the term “Big Three” when it comes to DaimlerChrysler and the plea to take greater account of recalls by foreign manufacturers has begun to bear fruit. Big Three is used much less frequently by the automotive press, and we are seeing recall stories involving foreign companies given bigger play.
(Commentary: While I understood Vines’ comments, in places where being thought of as an “American company” is an advantage, the effort to distance DCX from the “Big Three” can’t always beneficial.)
One recent huge impact of thefirehouse.biz blog was felt after Vines posted a commentary about “Big Oil” on April 10. According to Garsten:
“It only appeared on TheFirehouse.biz and precipitated a front page story in the “Detroit News” the next day, was carried by the Associated Press and all network newscasts, along with hits in dozens of blogs. It also had the effect of stepping up the debate on who to blame for high gas prices.”
Vines’ commentary on “Big Oil” has since been removed from the blog because, according to Garsten, “it made its point.”
Like Vines’ commentary, TheFirehouse.biz is used to announce certain information that is not on the DCX media Web site, according to Garsten: “We also post new incentive programs on the blog first and we’ve seen the wires take advantage of getting a jump on those who are not members, since we don’t post incentives on the traditional media website.”
Podcasts
In the past few months, TheFirehouse.biz has added podcasts for registered members to download, and the downloads are increasing, according to Garsten. However, he added, like a lot of formatted news provided by companies, naturally, the media is not always eager to use it: “As is the case with most journalists though, they’re not thrilled about using canned soundbites or quotes, but will do so if they can’t get access to the executives.”
Still, it’s a good way to have a readily available back up for the media.
While Vines and Garsten (as “editor”) are the primary bloggers, others from sales and product management also have posted.
And, the early criticisms of the media-only blog seem to be lightening up, according to Garsten: “We’re starting to see a lot more support on the blogosphere to the point where folks are coming to our defense.”
Like any new venture, there are bound to be well-wishers (me) and critics, but, as the Garsten quote in the title notes, it’s been worth it: “Sometimes it’s tough to plow new ground, but I’m glad we didn’t back down.”
– Mike
Technorati tags: public relations, PR, media relations, media-only blog, DaimlerChrysler, Chrysler Group, DCX
