Two things are sure in life. Death, and the fact that there are no secrets. With that in mind, should a company make fun of its competitors in an internal video? Probably not. Software company Autodesk produced a video for a reseller event in which it ridiculed its competitor SolidWorks, but the video leaked to YouTube where anyone could watch it. The company found itself in a very delicate position as consumers started to question the competence of the management. And there was more, the video contained music by the artist Beck, music that most certainly was not licensed for use in this video, exposing Autodesk to claims of copyright infringement.
A blogger also sent an email to Carl Bass, Autodesk’s CEO, asking about the video and got the answer “I have no idea what you’re talking about”. Strange, considering that Bass is in the video.
Lesson learned: always act as if internal information is external. The risks are now greater than ever that information will spread on the internet.
The video was later removed from both YouTube and Google Video, but can be found here. Via For Immediate Release.
Tags: video, PR, public relations, PR, video.