Last week our team was reviewing a few blog themes/templates for a few of our new managed blog clients.  One of our more ‘corporate’ guys liked the WordPress themes that had a strong graphical element at the top.  Our more ‘web2.0′ guys like the simplebits style of let’s say – this blog.  What is best?  I like the new Weblogs Work site (you are looking at it), but I also like striking graphics like the Airbag Industries site (the nice Zep picture is from their blog). 

Corporations are realizing they need to get in on this ‘blogging’ deal – and they need to hurry.  They don’t necessarily know why, but they know they need to get in the game.  Debbie Weil attended the Blog Business Summit in San Francisco and wrote about Boeing’s decision to ‘get in the blogging’ game. 

Boeing gave Chris Brownrigg, their web designer, 48 hours to design and launch a blog for Boeing VP Randy Baseler.  Oh, and they told him he could not call it a blog – it would be called a journal. 

"Because they (management) were uncomfortable with the term blog."

According to Debbie, Chris got around that decision by calling it "Boeing Blog: Randy’s Journal."  Chris selected Movable Type and posted a mock up here, but it was later removed.  Why only 48 hours?  Well Josh Hallett suggests that the blog/journal launch was one day before Airbus rolled out the A380.  How do you think Boeing is doing? 

Talk about the ‘new economy’, before 2000 you would have never seen a job ad for a BLOGGER!  Today you can find major companies looking to fill this important roll.  Yesterday it was Earthlink and today it is Successfactors.  What does it take to be a blogger?  Well Successfactors thinks you need:

• BA in English or Journalism
• 3+ years writing consumer or b2b advertising copy
• Proven ad agency or publishing experience – 3 years.
• Experience with writing and administering a blog.
• Teamwork, flexibility, and openness to change.
• Previous HR and or Enterprise Software experience is a plus
• Basic understanding of HTML and the technology behind Web advertising, including key word and search engine optimization.

What would a blogger do all day?

• Increase visibility of SuccessFactors on the web through the creation of Blogs, Discussion Groups, Bulletin Boards, and other relevant channels.
• Plan and create a sense of enthusiasm among SuccessFactors customer community via the web. 
  
• Track marketplace perception of SuccessFactors and competitor web presence
• Write and post Human Capital and IT related content to increase SuccessFactors web presence
• Work with multiple internal company constituents including Marketing, Product Marketing, Product Management, and Executive Management to gather the most interesting and relevant content
• Devise new tactics leveraging the growing usage of the web and other alternative channels to increase awareness of SuccessFactors
• Other Internet Marketing communications writing as needed.

If you are interested in the position just send Bridget Cooper an email at bcooper [at] successfactors.com. 

Really, someone to wrangle multiple blogs.

Many people can write, but only a few can write in an engaging conversational style. And, even fewer can combine that skill with keeping their finger on the pulse of the industry and new technology. If you have this unique blend of skills and are a self-motivated, creative individual with a passion for accuracy and commitment, we have a full-time writing opportunity for you: establishing, managing and nurturing multiple Blog sites for us."

[via hyku via Diva Marketing Blog] 

Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations:  How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, writes about his life as a recovering publicist.  He has an aha moment at the Blog Business Summit that helps him reconcile his old and new lives:

I am pro-marketing.  I am pro-business. I am even pro-profits.  But I oppose corporate dehumaizanization.  When companies, marketers, lawyers, PR operatives and voice automation customer response systems get in the way of personal relationships, I oppose it."

ABC News recently visited Jose, the FedEx Furniture Guy, for a spot to be aired on Good Morning America next week.  The ‘Cribs’ style segment will feature the new ‘FedEx Furniture Lifestyle’ that Jose has made so popular.

The Good Morning American segment is only one of several television appearances Jose has made in the past few weeks.  He has made the rounds of all the major (and minor) news outlets including CNN, CNBC, NBC, CBS, and ABC.  In total, over one hour of national programming in the past month has been dedicated to his furnishings and his plight and fight to keep his website up.  Jose was contacted by Riverston Publishing about the possibility of writing a book about his adventure and a museum has offered to diplay his ‘art’ in their collection.  Jose has been a busy boy!

Web traffic has been significant.  Over 500,000 unique Internet users who have visited his site and/or blog.  Thousands of people have emailed him, and hundreds have left comments on his website.  Icerocket indicates that over 597 bloggers have written about FedEx Furniture.  Some of the bloggers are mad angry (actually more surprised than angry) that he has received so much attention, others suspect that we made him up and many more thought the stunt was funny.  Interestingly, many folks in the PR business want the entire story to go away.  Don’t worry, it will.  But clearly FedEx could have been on the good side of this 15 60 minutes of fame – instead of playing the villian…

Just ask Comcast.  Dave Burn at AdPulp points out that,

"While too many corporate PR and marketing departments turn a bling eye to the power of blogs, and have no clue how fast and far a story like will spread, a quick look at Icerocket turns up 157 posts and it’s still early in the story’s lifecycle."

Oh and you could talk to Dell, and have you heard about the FedEx debacle?  Looks like Comcast is getting Dell’d. 

Adrants suggests that "agency websites suck", and they further recommend,"launch a weblog."  Why should an ad agency launch a blog?  According to Adrants it is simple, just think about the two main reasons agencies are hired:

• Creative talent
• Thought leadership

Blogs might be the best way to share these two areas of expertise (if you do it right).  Think your website is great?  Adrants suggest that if you take an honest look at it, it isn’t much more than a creative showcase and management bios and maybe a few paragraphs about your "proprietary process".  What can a blog do better?

• Letting your clients in on your thinking, your ideas; let them see how smart you are. 
• Improve your listing in Google and other search engines. 
• Offer a human voice to your business, no one reads corporate blather anymore anyway. 
• Newsletter delivery, RSS delivery and website delivery of your blog entries. 

Non-ad firms are taking the advice:  Architel is both a client and a vendor to our company, Weblogs Work, and as a result we helped them build a blog.  They agreed that their "website sucked" so we introduced them to Dan Cederholm at Simplebits.  They were so enamoured by our customized WordPress interface they decided to scrap their corporate website and replace it with a site based entirely on WordPress.  Dan is currently working on the project. 

More from Jose Avila.  We asked him 3Q’s:

Q:  What did you hope to gain by putting up the site?

The reason I wanted to put up the site was to go out to the world and say "It’s OK to be ghetto! When you are in a bind, and feeling down, you can be creative." I figured that maybe at least one person would see the site that was in a bad  situation, get a laugh out of it, and think to them selves "Hey at least I’m not that guy!"

Q:  Do you think you would have reacted differently had you been approached differently?

I was only approached by FedEx’s legal department. Had I been approached differently I probably would have reacted differently. Had they asked me to change the domain name, change the colors etc. I would have  more than considered changing those things. When this  whole thing started I did not have legal representation, and had I been approached in a less threating manner, and not told that there were no other options, would not have even started looking for a lawyer.

Q:  Where does this go from here?  Why don’t you just take the site down and avoid the hassle?

It goes where it goes… At what point do you stand down and give up your rights? When do you let in. Ever since my lawyers have advised me that there is nothing legally wrong with what I am doing, I feel that if i take down the site and avoid the hassle, it will give the message "It’s OK to push around the guy smaller than you".  I don’t believe that it is OK to do that, just as it is was not OK to bully around the kids in lower grades in school.

Jeremy Pepper puts on his reporter hat and gets everyone’s side of the story in this post.  He gets Sandra Munoz, of FedEx corporate communications, to talk about their approach to the story:

We have not officially responded because no one has really contacted the media department for a response. Those people that have called, like a TV station, we do respond to. We did miss the Wired.com request.

Right now, it’s about media coverage. Right now, maybe this has run its course with the traditional media, it was the flavor of the week. That’s what it is about with public relations – you look at the situation, weigh the damage, and make decisions. You do make your decisions on what you do and do not respond to. And, that’s not just FedEx, but that’s likely all corporations that are weighing the upside and downside in responding to media and citizen media. You can’t always respond to everything, because of timing. Wired.com is a perfect example – the request came in over email, and got lost in the shuffle.

I believe that the first contact with Jose Avila – the official contact – was through the attorney. If we go online and see a company using the FedEx name, it goes to legal. That’s not unusual. It’s a legal issue.

We’re just asking him to respect our rights. Thousands of our employees have built the company to what it is today. All we’re asking him to do is respect our name and materials, and stop using them for his Website and his endeavors. That’s all it comes down to."

Jeremy also includes a long IM transcript with Jose Avila.  Check it out.