Catching up with The Consumerist

This past Wednesday, myself along with my Cohn & Wolfe Digital peers Jim Wells and Katie Greene, had the chance to attend The Consumerist’s first meetup at Botanica Bar. For those not familiar with The Consumerist, it’s a highly influential blog with more than half a million unique monthly visitors known for its witty and brutally honest commentary on consumer issues and activism. Owned by the Consumers Union (the folks behind Consumer Reports) and led by co-executive editors Ben Popken and Meghann Marco, the blog is also considered a top news source  – having first broken stories like Facebook’s new Privacy Policyand the Dominos Pizza YouTube incident.

The event was billed as a meetup and opportunity to mix with fellow [consumerists] and hang out with Consumerist writers.” So, showing up, we were expecting sound-byte-hungry journalists eager to catch either Ben or Meghann for an interview, exchange business cards, and/or plug their brand or company. What we found, however, was a laid-back group of passionate, incredibly nice people sharing drinks and basically, hanging out.

No interviews. No business cards. No “What do you do?” type questions.

The night went on with Ben and Meghann showing some videos in support of their friends at Internets Celebrities, honoring well-known Consumerist commenter GitEmSteveDave with the Holy Grail of consumerism memorabilia—an authentic Consumer Reports lab coat, and giving away free T-shirts sporting the new Consumerist logo.

­­Authentic face time still counts. Many times we tend to forget the power of meeting someone in person which is, and always will be, the most effective form of communication. Now more than ever it is clear that between email, chat, and social networking, the gap between face time and a few strokes on the keyboard is stretching further and further apart. Getting to speak face-to-face with the people behind The Consumerist  (a blog we follow everyday and admire for its compelling, no-nonsense style of journalism) was an invaluable experience. It’s precisely this maxim that communications people should practice more: follow the influencers which reflect your interests and try to meet them if possible. One of our clients, Smucker’s, just made this even more clear with an incredibly successful blogger event at their headquarters (look for a more extensive event recap next week).

Getting to know the influencers you care about (not just to “pitch when appropriate,” but also to consult and/or start a dialogue with) is crucial to inform our thinking and to provide relevant insights for our clients. Have a look at a chat between our own Rachelle Spero and her friend, Matthew Holt of The Healthcare Blog on healthcare digital health trends to get a better idea of this in action.