Oct 01
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)
by Kaitlyn Wilkins
Category: Best Practices, How-To, Influencers, Research & Insights
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics below is the revised version of our Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics — Take 1. It is the result of a two-week collaborative discussion by bloggers and individuals in the PR/social media industry.
The original Code of Ethics can be found here, and the key trends and take aways from the resulting dialogue live here.
Ogilvy PR’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics
OUR APPROACH
- We reach out to bloggers because we respect your influence and feel that we might have something that is “remarkable” which could be of interest to you and/or your audience.
- We will only propose blogger outreach as a tactic if it complements our overall strategy. We will not recommend it as a panacea for every social media campaign.
OUTREACH
- Before we email you, we will check out your blog’s About, Contact and Advertising page in an effort to see if you have blatantly said you would not like to be contacted by PR/Marketing companies. If so, we’ll leave you alone.
- We will always be transparent and clearly disclose who we are and whom we work for in our outreach email.
- If you tell us there is a specific way you want to be reached, we’ll adhere to those guidelines.
- We won’t pretend to have read your blog if we haven’t, and we’ll make a best effort to spend time reading the blogs we plan on contacting.
- In our email we will convey why we think you, in particular, might be interested in our client’s product, issue, event or message.
- NEW! As available, we will provide you with links to third party information/blog coverage of the campaign we are pitching to you. (via Web Strategy with Jeremiah and MC Milker)
- Our initial outreach email will always include a link to Ogilvy PR’s Blog Outreach Code of Ethics.
BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP
- NEW! Whenever possible, we will articulate how blogger outreach, and your blog in particular, fits in with our overall campaign strategy. (via Neville Hobson)
- NEW! We will seek to present you with a range of opportunities to work together around a campaign, so that you can create the best experience possible for your audience. We acknowledge that, when it comes to knowing your audience, you are the expert.
- NEW! We’ll let you know who we are by providing you with a link to some background or bio information on the individual contacting you. (via 93 Colors)
- We won’t leave you hanging. If your contact at Ogilvy PR is going out of town or will be unreachable, we will provide you with an alternate point of contact.
- We encourage you to disclose our relationship with you to your readers, and will never ask you to do otherwise.
- You are entitled to blog on information or products we give you in any way you see fit. (Yes, you can even say you hate it.)
- NEW! We understand that when you agree to blog about a campaign it’s not going to happen overnight. We’ll work with you to develop a reasonable time line for posting that fits with your schedule - and we won’t pester you to put up your post. (via LA Daddy)
- If you don’t want to hear from us again, we will place you on our Do Not Contact list — which we will share with the rest of Ogilvy PR.
- If you are initially interested in the campaign, but don’t respond to one of our emails, we will follow up with you no more than once. If you don’t respond to us at all, we’ll leave you alone.
COMPENSATION & PRODUCT ACCESS
- NEW! If we reach out to you with news about a product, campaign or issue, we will not provide monetary compensation, because we believe it is unethical to “buy” favorable reviews and not want to appear as if we are.
- NEW! If you have advertising opportunities on your blog, we will counsel our clients to consider purchasing advertising as a way to reach your readers. We will make it clear, however, that paying for advertising does not mean that you will post about the campaign or that, if you do, you will do so in a way that is favorable to them.
- NEW! If we ask you to review a product and, therefore, provide you with the product to enable you to “experience” it, we will ask that you be transparent and reveal that you have been given the product temporarily, or permanently.
- NEW! If we engage you as an advisor on a specific project, we will consider providing you with compensation (agreed upon at the start of the project). This compensation will solely be for your time as an advisor and will not include an expectation that you will write about the project — favorably or unfavorably.
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics is an ever-evolving document, if you feel that we missed something, or have a new item to add — let us know by commenting on this post or emailing Kaitlyn Wilkins (Kaitlyn.Wilkins@ogilvypr.com) and Alison Byrne Fields (Alison.Byrnefields@ogilvypr.com)
50 Responses to “The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)”
Post Your Comment
Blog Network
CATEGORIES
- Best Practices (191)
- brand (1)
- design (5)
- Digital Influence (611)
- Fresh Thinking (49)
- Digital Reputation (38)
- Events (91)
- Facebook (75)
- google (5)
- Healthcare (34)
- How-To (105)
- Influencers (57)
- Infographics (5)
- LinkedIn (4)
- Measurement (34)
- Mobile and Location (22)
- Research & Insights (103)
- Search (24)
- social (4)
- tourism (2)
- trends (2)
- twitter (26)
- Word of Mouth Marketing (119)
TAGS
- Add new tag
- applications
- apps
- Best Practices
- blog
- brand
- branding
- brands
- Co-creation
- Communities
- Creative Solutions
- crowdsourcing
- digital
- Digital Influence
- Events
- fda
- foursquare
- gaming
- government
- guidelines
- health
- Healthcare
- How-To
- influence
- Influencers
- marketing
- Measurement
- Mobile
- music
- news
- ogilvy
- Openness & Transparency
- pharma
- seo
- social
- social media
- strategy
- Tools
- trends
- video
- womma
- youtube
RECENT POSTS
- Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 2
- The Updated Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code
- Brand Personality Goes A Long Way
- Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 1
- Breaking Down Polarization
RECENT COMMENTS
- I am usually to blogging and i really like your content. The article has actually peaks my interest. I’m going to bookmark your website and hold checking for brand new information. best regards. you... 10 Stunning (And Useful) Stats About Twitter
- I really like the insights presented in this blog post. Thanks for sharing this with us. best regards Twitter Bootcamp for PR: A Recap
- Thanks for the information about the live nature of twitter. Great work. best regards Words of Advice to Motrin: In a Crisis, Medium Matters
- There are many interesting books on the world, which I’ve read they are admirable and you will always find something new. best regards for this great work Focus on Facebook: Interview with Kevin Barenblat of Context Optional
- thanks for the information. i have learn from this it is very informative best regards Creating a Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics - - Take 1
OTHER BLOGS
- Stylitics Is an Analytics Dashboard for Your Closet [INVITES]
- Facebook Javascript API Goes Down, Taking Down Likes, Comments And Apps With It
- Investors Drive $ZNGA Up 26% In Two Days Following Facebook IPO Filing
- I Use Wikipedia More Than Makeup
- Like Testing New Apps? BetaBait Will Hook You Up
- Google Adjusts Political Posture With Sponsorship Of Conservative Conference
- 4 Ways to Tweet as a Visual Brand
- Olapic’s Crowd-Sourced Photo Campaigns Becoming a Sports Trend
- The Strange and Epic Lifestyle of Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom
- 10 Hot Web Startups Changing the Face of Retail
- Donald Trump, Deion Sanders and Apolo Ohno Star in Century 21′s Super Bowl Ad [VIDEO]
- Travel Website Lets You Book Flights Featuring Wi-Fi, Live TV
- Why the "S&%t X Says to Y" Version of This Meme Exploded
- Facebook IPO: Test Your Knowledge [QUIZ]
- Smartphone Sales Overtake PCs for the First Time [STUDY]
- More from the Daily Influence
The WPP Reading Room
NETWORK FEED
- Ogilvy Washington Social Media Week Events on healthcare and more
- What The Amish Paradox Can Teach You About Marketing
- Protected: Stay out of jail!!!
- Tell Me a Story: A Novel and Effective Way to Promote Behavior Change
- Facebook Studio Live Sydney: My Top Takeaways
- Facebook IPO: China features throughout
- Women and Football (Musings of a NY Giants Fan)
- Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 2
- Pinterested?
- India now world’s second largest Facebook country
- Are Social Media Ethics About Actions or Intentions?
- The Updated Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code
- Brand Personality Goes A Long Way
- The 4 Principles Of Delusional Economics
- Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 1
-
Crossing the Pond Working with the Media in the UK and USA
October 1st, 2007 at 11:42 am
Oustanding as usual. Very insightful discussions all around and applause from here on a revised Code. I would be interested in your take on the timing issue discussed at socialmediaexplorer.com today. What happens when your new client’s timing demands prevent appropriate relationship/dialog-building front end work.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Nice set of guidelines, I’ve given you a mention in a post scheduled to appear on the Sciencebase.com site on Friday at 11h00 EST.
http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/how-not-to-grab-the-blogosphere.html
In it I discuss an incident in which every single one of your guidelines was broken.
db
October 16th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I like the concept of the code of ethics, but is it self serving? Blogger ethics are no different than regular ethics.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I want to thank you all for your dialogue; it has been tremendously helpful. The PR company I work for is getting ready to pitch to bloggers for the very first time, and your code of ethics and comments provide the exact information we need to get started. I’ve read all the posts and checked out other’s mentioned by name to gather as much info as I can. We’ve yet to get our own blog going, our client has had theirs up and running for a while. Anyway, thank you!
Rose
April 26th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Excellent post. It’s great to see that Ogilvy PR is intentionally and thoughtfully working on collaborations with bloggers.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Thank you for this great post.
Ethics are universal, but the clarity is very helpful nevertheless. It has provided the inspiration and foundation for our own Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics which we are currently formally implementing.
Much appreciated.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Yes Ogilvy - certainly a very insightful set of ethics..
If followed of course
http://blogtillyoudrop.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/pr-pitches/
October 19th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
@Jack PoP - Sorry you were displeased with an email you received. We’ve passed along your feedback, and will put you on the UK office’s do not email list.
If you have specific suggestions of what we could add to the code, please let us know as it is a living breathing doc we’re always looking to improve.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:25 pm
[...] Best Practices, How-To, Influencers, Research & Insights As promised, we’re back with Round 2 of our Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. I don’t want to get all mushy on you all, but I’ve been really impressed with the [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
[...] Blog outreach ethics [...]
March 11th, 2009 at 10:19 am
[...] 11, 2009 The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2). Posted by lewishamlad Filed in [...]
March 13th, 2009 at 9:02 am
[...] The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2) (tags: advertising blogs marketing ethics) [...]
June 26th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
[...] in the conversation was Kaitlyn who outlined the background to the Ogilvy Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. She emphasised that in terms of blogger outreach that it is important to [...]
July 9th, 2009 at 6:47 am
[...] a governing member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and our outreach is governed by the Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. Karen Untereker Digital Strategist | 360 Digital [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 8:31 am
[...] for their employees. I have yet to see the final version, but you can read their second version here. The document basically outlines how the company will go about pitching bloggers — what they [...]
July 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
[...] the first type back in my post about how to pitch to sports bloggers. It’s Ogilvy PR’s blogger outreach code of ethics post and I definitely recommend that you give it a read. But I want to focus today’s post on the [...]
August 31st, 2009 at 11:42 am
[...] this post is sponsored by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide on behalf of Vtech. This is my own personal account of the Bugsby system that may or may not differ [...]
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:08 am
[...] The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2) – A great set of rules for blogger engagement. Co-created with blogger feedback. [...]
October 27th, 2009 at 9:03 am
[...] The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics From the Ogilvy PR Blog: Some basic tenets of blogger outreach that the Ogilvy PR abides by when contacting bloggers on behalf of their clients. [...]
December 24th, 2009 at 12:09 am
[...] some tips on how to reach out to bloggers here are some basics to get you going from Ogilvy PR to help you promote your product or [...]
December 24th, 2009 at 12:13 am
[...] some tips on how to reach out to bloggers here are some basics to get you going from Ogilvy PR to help you promote your product or [...]
March 25th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Great foundational piece that sets the stage for more authentic and therefore, I believe, successful conversations and insights.
April 25th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
[...] are some basics to get you going from Ogilvy PR to help you promote your product or [...]
July 10th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Great job with the updated Code!
You should add these to Scribd so the community can easily share the Code around. It is something that anyone pitching bloggers should adopt or use as the foundation for their own Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics.
September 11th, 2010 at 10:31 am
[...] about their social media blog, 360 Digital Influence, for some time now. In addition to their own Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics, they have made it clear that we must adhere to the FTC Guidelines for Endorsements (PDF) and the [...]
September 21st, 2010 at 5:00 pm
[...] The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. [...]
January 27th, 2011 at 4:49 am
Awesome. It is amazing how some people come up with cool ideas. I really enjoyed reading this article. I’m actually glad to see all this stuff, Thanks for convey this.
January 29th, 2011 at 6:40 am
[...] The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2) [...]
May 12th, 2011 at 11:00 am
[...] doua lecturi care pe mine m-au ajutat sa imi formez ideile pentru azi: The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics si biz ladies: online etiquette and ethics AKPC_IDS += [...]
June 28th, 2011 at 3:39 am
Thanks for this. This will be useful in my line of work.
September 27th, 2011 at 7:46 am
I Like the fact that we have our own code, it is the pruve that we are a very proffesional company who knows the bloogers and what they want
November 18th, 2011 at 5:41 am
Hopefully this sort of code will become industry standard. Good work.
November 18th, 2011 at 5:47 am
This is brilliant. Good job with creating this code of conduct. It’s clear and concise and I must say, I agree with every point. This is a great example to other PR’s of how to develop relationships with bloggers based on a set code of ethics. Once again, well done!
Cheers,
Keith
November 18th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Hi Kaitlyn-
This post is great to see. From a former broadcast journalist, turned travel blogger, I really appreciate how Ogilvy is understanding and taking seriously the growing power of blogs and treating professional bloggers with the respect they deserve. I think it raises the bar on both sides - something I am very glad to see.
November 19th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Excellent!
December 15th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Firefox. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design and style look great though! Hope you get the issue fixed soon. Many thanks Finanzierungsrechner Immobilien
December 15th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this outstanding blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group. Talk soon! Immobilienkreditrechner
December 23rd, 2011 at 2:44 pm
[...] like this.” He pointed out that the offer of gift cards in return for coverage violates Ogilvy’s own policies, which were linked to in the e-mail to me. (Ogilvy’s stance is more restrictive than FTC [...]
January 3rd, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Social Karma Media…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 8th, 2012 at 11:58 pm
UltimateDemon…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 10th, 2012 at 1:22 am
sewing machine guide…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 16th, 2012 at 6:04 am
business info from ukraine…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 17th, 2012 at 11:11 pm
reviews…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 19th, 2012 at 2:03 am
Kaetanodj…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 19th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Toyota of Knoxville…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 19th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
The Picture Blog…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 20th, 2012 at 5:05 am
party pics blog…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
January 20th, 2012 at 6:27 pm
web design…
[...]The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)[...]…
February 1st, 2012 at 9:54 am
[...] A few years ago, our team worked closely with bloggers and social media influencers to create the Ogilvy PR blogger Code of Ethics which guides our overall approach to blogger outreach and working with [...]
February 3rd, 2012 at 2:02 pm
[...] has had a social media-related ethics code in place since 2005. At that time, it was the Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. It helped the company decide what was “best-practice” and what wasn’t. The updated code [...]