JG etc. by James Gross

It appears that Dell and Jeff Jarvis have made good and moved on with his new post entitled, Drinks with Dell. Jeff is a FM author and definitely on the front lines of conversational marketing and empowering the everyday user with a voice back up the corporate pipeline.

In regards to to the Dell story, I think Jeff pretty much sums it up right here(the bold is done by me for emphasis):

The canary may warn of trouble, but it doesn’t know the way out of the mine. You need people talking with your customers. And that’s why Richard Binhammer and the guy who tried to help me, John Blain, are so important. They can actually fix problems and answer questions. They can make judgments. Most of all, they can enter into a conversation with people. And that conversation need not always be about falling on the company sword. They can also tell you when you’re wrong. Richard said that when the Linux talk bubbled up, one blogger pooh-poohed it and said Dell would never release Linux machines. After Dell announced that it would, Richard went back to the guy’s blog, smirking, with a dish of crow. Companies make a big mistake when they think that their customers are out for blood and battle. No, we’re out for a conversation with a real person. We’re reasonable — most of us — when we are treated reasonably.

Dell will win for moves like this and Jeff wins for following up with an honest and fair piece with his old rival. Compare and contrast this to my boss, John Battelle’s piece on Conversational Media v. Packaged Goods Media and you realize why this is all so very important to me………

Update
My good buddy, Jeremiah Owyang, is chronicling the, Dell Hell to Dell Swell Saga.

Aside, Jeff Jarvis, though consulting work with Denuo, is responsible for the video ads we have been working on with a client, Dupont. You can see an example here: