Right: CCH - Wolters Kluwer
I received a letter last week from CCH explaining their decision to rebrand around the global Wolters Kluwer name. They told me that e-mails are changing, so I can still get in touch with key contacts there. Nicely done. Many organizations would not have gone to the trouble. This approach really supports the brand positioning as an expert organization that can get ALL the details right.
Not so Right: Two Municipalities Suing Citizens for Libel
The Globe and Mail reported this morning that two Ontario municipalities are suing citizens who complained a bit too publicly. Canada's chief defender of free speech tends to be Alan Borovoy, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, who said this:
"The issue is the propriety of a government in a democracy suing a citizen for defamation arising out of criticisms that citizen may make of government conduct. . . . Legal actions of this kind are incompatible with a viable right to free speech."
Susan Abbott says,
"You don't manage your reputation by taking your detractors to court -- you mediate, you hire public relations specialists if you need to, and you try to address the actual issue that caused the problem in the first place. Suing your citizens can only make you look mean-spirited and vindictive, even when the citizens are acting like jerks."
Doing it Wrong, then Right: Rogers de-fuses PR Implosion
One of Rogers' cell phone customers has been battling the company for some time now over a $12,000 bill incurred when she went travelling for a month and her phone was stolen. She claims their fraud detection software (some kind of neural network likely) would have red-flagged the activity, but that they didn't try to find her becuase her credit rating was good, and they felt confident of being able to collect.
A slight miscalculation on the part of the company: the customer in question is a law professor. [Oops]. By the time this story hit the front page of the largest national newspaper on Saturday, it was also revealed that terrorists had cloned at least one executive telephone number before the company had converted to GSM security.
The next day, we learn that legendary entrepreneur and executive Ted Rogers, one of the wealthiest people in the country, has personally apologized and wiped out the debt. He has also promised to have tea at the customer's house, no doubt so she can berate him in person.
Good recovery, but how unnecessary.
