Self-googling is so wrong, but nevertheless I followed a recent link from a Google News search on “Greenlight Wireless” to one of our PR articles that celebrates our union with our web host, Data393. In case this doesn’t work later, here’s a screenshot for the full effect:
Note the Rackspace ad right in the middle of the article for their competitor. Either this is totally brilliant or a complete disaster depending on your point of view. I think it does more harm than good in this case, but that’s just my opinion. The article is all about how we went with Data393 and found them to be superior in all respects. When I see this ad, I am reminded of all the reasons why we didn’t we go with Rackspace. This is the advertising equivalent of wearing the loosing team’s jersey as you leave the stadium. This is just another example of how placing ads along side content can have unintended consequences.
Here’s an interesting view about press releases, in general:
http://www.marketingshift.com/2006/07/press-release-marketing-one-size-will.cfm