BrandWeek printed a correction to their April 24th piece “Word Games” in the May 8th edition which appears on page 5, according to the author of the piece, Todd Wasserman. Although I have not seen the printed correction, Mr. Wasserman noted in a May 3rd email to me that his editor would print this correction:
“An April 24 article entitled “Word Games,” erroneously stated that the agency BoldMouth targets children 6-12 years old for word of mouth marketing campaigns. According to CEO Todd Tweedy, the firm targets teens, but doesn’t target kids of that age group.”
Mr. Wasserman is sending me a copy of the magazine with the correction that I’ll post up ASAP. He also noted that it is BrandWeek’s policy to correct the online version and archived articles as well which as of this writing had not been completed.
The article resulted in WOMMA expelling our firm from the organization based on what Andy Sernovitz, CEO of WOMMA, claims is evidence that our “firm violates WOMMA’s Code of Ethics, specifically regarding the provisions prohibiting word of mouth marketing to children. We have reviewed the evidence presented to us by you and the reporter.” Of course, I asked to see the “evidence” but Mr. Sernovitz’s never responded back.
Here is his letter:
The same day I recieved WOMMA’s fax on May 1st, BrandWeek apologized for the error and offered to print a correction which fell on deaf ears at WOMMA. WOMMA — or Andy — didn’t seem to care that the “evidence” they/he based their/his decision on is false.
On May 1, I sent Mr. Sernovitz this email:
Mr. Sernovitz,
I am in receipt of your fax canceling BoldMouth’s membership in WOMMA.
As you know, I’ve taken a very strong position on ethics and word-of-mouth marketing. And, my company has challenged our industry to stop unethical marketing practices. I’ve never in my career marketed to children, and am baffled and outraged that incorrect information printed in a BrandWeek article is the basis of your decision to cancel our membership.
You’ve noted in your fax to my company that you have evidence that our firm has marketed to children which is completely outrageous. However, since you claim to have reviewed evidence, where is this so-called evidence that you’ve reviewed? What concrete proof do you have to back up your erroneous claim? The fact is you don’t.
Earlier this afternoon, Todd Wasserman of BrandWeek offered to print a correction and apologized for the incorrect information in his piece about my company.
I have tried to be accommodating during this matter with you, however, your rush to judgment is unacceptable. Your actions are harming the good name and reputation of BoldMouth.
I demand a full apology from you immediately as well as reinstating my company in WOMMA.
Sincerely,
Todd Tweedy
CEO
BoldMouth
Mr. Sernovitz nor WOMMA responded to that email.
So, I sent another email at the suggestion of a WOMMA member who’s in the PR arena and, had contacted me about a study we are getting ready to publish and noted that he knew our organization had been expelled. This person stressed that I needed to be more clear about our position against marketing to children, and suggested a points to include.
Here’s my second email to Andy Sernovitz of WOMMA:
Mr. Sernovitz,
I’m emailing to set the record straight once-and-for-all.
On Monday, May 8th, BrandWeek will publish a correction to their April 24th article “Word Games.” The proposed correction will read:
An April 24 article entitled “Word Games,” erroneously stated that the agency BoldMouth targets children 6-12 years old for word of mouth marketing campaigns. According to CEO Todd Tweedy, the firm targets teens, but doesn’t target kids of that age group.
As I started before, I was miss quoted in the piece, and have never in my career marketed to children, nor do I ever intend to. My agency was founded based on a strong ethical code of conduct, and we adhere to WOMMA’s Ethical Code. Our business is about focusing on community participation and co-co-creation in the development and distribution of product and service recommendations.
I look forward to immediately having my agency reinstated back in WOMMA.
Sincerely,
Todd Tweedy
CEO
BoldMouth
I received a call the next day – May 4th — from Susan Tibbitts, Executive Director of WOMMA, who noted that they (WOMMA) would review the matter in the next 3 to 4 weeks. Nice…so much for clearing the name of our company quickly.
TAGS: BrandWeek, Todd Wasserman, WOMMA, Andy Sernovitz, Susan Tibbitts, BoldMouth, Todd Tweedy
4 responses so far ↓
Martin Oetting // May 9, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Hi Todd, just my 2 c: Couldn’t they have at least consulted with you, before kicking you out? I must admit that I was a bit taken aback when I read that note about BoldMouth in the article. And there we go - not true! So on WOMMA’s behalf, thoroughly investigating the matter should have included hearing you as well, wouldn’t it? And only then deciding measures.
Administrator // May 9, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Martin,
I got a call from Andy on Monday night, April 24th, asking me if it the story was true, if I had ever marketed to children, and if I would be willing to publish a public statement saying otherwise. I wrote an email to BrandWeek that night requesting a correction. I posted my request on the BoldMouth site via this blog and forwarded the email to Andy and Gary Ruskin. I also told Andy I was traveling the next morning — heading out the other coast and wouldn’t get back into the office until Friday.
BrandWeek didn’t respond until Wednesday afternoon, and over the next two days I had placed four calls to BrandWeek editor so that we could resolve the matter.
In the meantime, the only communication I got from Andy prior to the receiving the fax saying we were out as an email on April 25th in response to the forwarded email I sent him with my communication to BrandWeek. In Andy’s email he said:
“Thanks, Todd.
Can you please add a sentence that more clearly states “We have not and will not conduct a word of mouth marketing campaign targeted to children thirteen and under.”
That was WOMMA’s comprehensive investigation.
Andy Sernovitz // May 11, 2006 at 8:31 am
Todd:
WOMMA and it’s members take our ethics code very seriously.
When we are made aware of a possible violation of the code, we are obligated to investigate. A full and fair investigation takes time.
You have the right to a hearing and to present your side of the story. So far, we have not received the cooperation or evidence from you necessary to clear your firm. We are hoping that you would work with us to understand the truth of the matter and correct any errors or mistaken impressions. WOMMA did you the courtesy of communicating with you discreetly, it was your choice to make this investigation public.
Based on our past conversations, I know that you would demand a strong action from WOMMA if any other member was accused of ethical violations, and you have even launched an awareness campaign demanding stronger enforcement of ethical guidelines. Based on your well-publicized views, I can’t imagine that you would suggest that we weaken our guidelines for you, or any member.
As stated before, we are ready and each to work with you get to the bottom of this matter.
Andy Sernovitz
CEO
WOMMA
Todd Tweedy // May 11, 2006 at 8:41 am
Mr. Sernovitz,
When you began telling other members of WOMMA that you expelled our agency, you made the matter public, and left our company no choice but to proactively set the record straight.
BrandWeek has issued a correction. When are you going to do the same?
Sincerely,
Todd Tweedy
CEO
BoldMouth
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