Scoble tipped me off to this great story this morning about GM using flickr. GM has a blog I find out but not only have they embraced this simple way to reach out to their more enthusiastic fans, but they also said why not release all of our internal PR images and promotional event images on to a public flickr stream as well? In his blog post Diego Rodriguez of metacool has this to say about GM (great quote):
Corporate blogging is about trusting the judgment and intuition of individual contributors instead of relying upon a rule-based central authority. It’s about releasing control and rules, but embracing judgment and character. In general I think that’s a better way to market, because it comes across as more real and authentic because it is [..a..] trusting stance is a wonderful way to engage the outside world in creating contagious action around your offerings — which is the fundamental (if often forgotten) goal of marketers in the first place.
Very well put. Now can you imagine applying that logic to not just to Marketing (a no brainer) but also to internal corporate environment as well? I’m working on a technology project these days that we hope could enable businesses to do just that. [stay tuned…]
I’ll leave you with this: When was the last time that you felt that your parent company really, and authentically, thought about releasing control in order to “embrace your judgment and character”. Imagine how that would transform your loyalty, work ethic and commitment to them if they did? hmmm [and can you tell I used to work for a big bank?]
link: GM uses Flickr, do you?
picture: A snap from GM’s flickr photo stream showing what looks to be a concept GM hybrid or electric vehicle being tested at the Bonneville salt flats.
totally great idea, and great use of Flickr – provided you own your photos. Reality is that probably 99% of SMB’s that could benefit from this rely on freelance photographers for their images (like we do at Specialized). We own the rights to use these photos, but not to distribute them like this.
Which begs the question: would photographers ever agree to this kind of distribution? This smells a lot like asking a musician if they want to sell more music by putting their work online for free. Probably could just replace the word “music” with “photos” in any EFF/MPAA/RIAA article you want – that’s how this would read.
Any photographers out there want to comment?
totally great idea, and great use of Flickr – provided you own your photos. Reality is that probably 99% of SMB’s that could benefit from this rely on freelance photographers for their images (like we do at Specialized). We own the rights to use these photos, but not to distribute them like this.
Which begs the question: would photographers ever agree to this kind of distribution? This smells a lot like asking a musician if they want to sell more music by putting their work online for free. Probably could just replace the word “music” with “photos” in any EFF/MPAA/RIAA article you want – that’s how this would read.
Any photographers out there want to comment?