Dell's head of digital media and communications for EMEA has warned that it could take the firm ten years to recover from the PR fallout following the 'Dell Hell' blog scandal that occurred two years ago.Speaking at this week's PR Week Social Networking & Blogging conference, Kerry Bridge said that the company had underestimated the impact that the affair would have and warned other companies not to underestimate the damage that bloggers can have upon their company's profile.
The 'Dell Hell' affair was one of the first times a blogger influenced the mainstream news agenda – as well as a company's share price – and occurred when US communications consultant blogged his anger at his experience of poor customer service from the vendor on his blog, BuzzMachine.
It was picked up by news outlets on both sides of the Atlantic, and contributed to a share price fall of 42 per cent.
"We lost sight of the importance of conversations with customers," said Bridge. "The ramifications could take us ten years to overcome."
Since the affair, Dell has employed a dedicated PR team for communicating with new media such as bloggers and fansites. "We're targeting key online digital influencers, and we are no longer treating bloggers as lower-tier journalists."
Source: BrandRepublic
Advertisement
Related Stories
- Vendor job cuts rumoured to be on the way May 21st 2012 at 1:21PM
- Consumer caution returns as the Christmas holiday ends Feb 7th 2012 at 1:55PM
- Alienware slims it down with X51 desktop Jan 18th 2012 at 7:10AM
- CES 2012: Dell's new ultrabook, the XPS 13. Jan 12th 2012 at 7:01AM
- Dell exits the netbook market Dec 19th 2011 at 6:32AM
- WordPress 3.3 blogging platform released Dec 14th 2011 at 10:32PM
- Dell: the PC is not dead Sep 19th 2011 at 2:47PM
- Dell channel boss Paul Harrison moves on Sep 6th 2011 at 1:55PM
- Dell Latitude XT3 notebook tablet hybrid nears launch Aug 9th 2011 at 9:15AM
- Apple tech support takes a dip in new consumer study Aug 2nd 2011 at 3:15PM
