PR Email Exposes Microsoft’s Media Tactics

By Greg McNevin

March 30, 2007: In an embarrassing case of email gone wrong, Microsoft’s US PR firm Waggener Edstrom has mistakenly sent a 13-page internal document on Wired contributing editor Frank Vogelstein directly to Vogelstein himself.

Apart from a detailed run down on Vogelstein’s background, his interview techniques and potential questions the dossier contains suggestions on how Microsoft could prepare for and approach an upcoming meeting with the journalist.

“As journalistic windfalls go this is about as good as it gets,” writes Vogelstein writes on his blog. “There I was writing a story about how Microsoft is on the cutting edge of using the internet to become more transparent, and there in front of me are the briefing documents they are using to manage the story.’

The fact that Vogelstein received the email as he was penning an article on the software giant’s attempts to be less secretive is a delicious twist, and while it is common practice for executives to receive briefings about upcoming meetings, Volgelstein writes that he felt a little odd after reading lines such as "It takes him a bit to get his point across so try to be patient" along with others that claimed he was "tricky" and would try to dig for dirt.

The error highlights exactly how the convenience of email can rapidly turn into a security risk and blow simple mistakes into big problems.

The full memo has been published on wired.com, it is not yet known what is in store for the Waggener Edstrom employee who made the mistake.

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