New PR: Beating Back Bad Press With Google AdWords

The New York Times reported on its front page in September that hoki, an unattractive sea creature best known as the primary ingredient in the Filet-O-Fish, is at risk of depletion. Naturally, the New Zealand companies that farm hoki by the metric ton weren’t pleased by the article, which pointed to “ominous signs of overfishing.”

Time was, the subject of a critical news story could write a letter to the editor, issue a press release, maybe demand a correction. Not content with those options, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council took an approach I hadn’t seen before: buying Google ads for keywords like new zealand hoki and hoki new york times.

Read the rest of this story »

See Also:

• Panic At EA As PR Scrambles To Close Leaks On Playfish Rumors (ERTS)
• "90% Of PR Firms Add No Value" -- PR Exec
• When PR Firms Get Fired