The latest agency blog stats

Today we learned that the Blogosphere is a really good place to spot potential reputational trouble spots. KDPaine & Partners has been analyzing the reputations of the top 10 PR firms in the blogosphere since the beginning of June. We are collecting and reading all the postings that mention one or more of these firms. We rate each one as positive (i.e. it leaves the reader more likely to hire or go to work for the firm) negative (leaves the reader less likely to hire or go to work for the firm) or balanced.

We do this for both the blog body itself, as well as for any comments that are posted in response to the blog.

 We found a couple of recurring themes in our most recent analysis.

1. Most      of the negative postings associate the major PR firms with political lobbying efforts. Though they haven’t quite tainted the industry with the Jack Abramoff tarbush yet, they’re getting close. A detailed analysis of recent high level appointments and acquisitions clearly ties the major firms to K-street. Hill & Knowlton gets the most frequent negative postings, thanks to its involvement in the first Gulf War. Bloggers      singled out Edelman’s Leslie Dach and Burson’s Mark Penn as examples of the exceptionally close (and unsavory) ties some PR firms have to DC insiders. The point these bloggers are making is that “Astroturf campaigns” – in which public support is drummed up around a “fake” organization won’t fly any more. In today’s environment, any tie to a PR firm immediately generates skepticism on the part of the bloggers.
2. Most of the positive postings come from favorable responses to blogs – Hill & Knowlton’s Leo Bottary and Brendon Hodgson stand out. Additionally, as interns go back to school, they reported favorably on their experiences. As a result, Fleishman was most frequently positioned as a great place to work.
3. There were remarkably few comments on any of the blog postings.
4. The rants disappeared in August. Most postings were simple observations, and there was relatively little criticism.

 
Here are the stats for August:

 Burson-Marsteller and Fleishman Hillard tied for greatest share of the discussion with 27.2% each. Hill & Knowlton followed with 18.18% and Edelman ranked fourth at 13.64%. Porter Novelli, Ogilvy, Ketchum and Weber Shandwick were relatively invisible in August.

 Half of all the negative postings referenced Burson Marsteller, with the remaining negatives split between Hill & Knowlton and Edelman thanks to their lobbying ties.

 Fleishman received 75% of the positive discussion thanks to its CEO’s blog and positive comments on its working environment. Hill & Knowlton captures the other 25% of the positives thanks to positive reviews of its bloggers.

 For details on the data, go to www.diydashboard.com. Log in as guest and use the password KDPaine. Select the PR CGM dashboard. This will give you a landing page that lists the different charts that are available. You can change the date range to see whatever months you are interested in.  Click on any chart to see the postings behind it. (and yes, this is the shameless commerce division -- you too can own your very own CGMDashboard, just like the PRCGM demo, all you have to do is ask us.

Comments

[JamesBruni]

Check out the latest PR Watch report and you will find some interesting Burson "papers" on its first foray into the world of "astroturf" on behalf of Corning's breast implant biz that should have been shredded.
Go to

prwatch.org/prwissues/1996Q1/silicone10.html - 45k - Sep 6, 2006 -

[JamesBruni]

Fascinating report. I did some research for a recent oped in OdwyerPR.com and found a huge seismic increase in negative postings about Edelman around the time of the Andy Young fiasco.

[David Jones]

Very interesting on a number of fronts. This is the first time I've really looked at your dashboard product and it looks really great. It's a great way to analyze company vs. company.

Did you also track podcast coverage? I'm pretty sure you can subscribe to Podzinger search terms just like Technorati.

Thanks for sharing.

Dave (a proud FH-er in Canada).

[Leo Bottary]

Enjoyed your post. I've been checking in on the results for a month or so now, and I encourage others to log-in and check them out from time to time as well. Thanks for your work on this.