The Ultimate Irony: When An Anti-Spam Firm is Caught Spamming!

Technically it wasn’t them but a third party marketing company they hired, but the irony remains. According to an article on The Register, a few months ago security firm Sophos was red faced after discovering the marketing company they hired was flooding blogs with comment spam. They quickly apologized and promised to give the company a stern talking to. It’s unknown whether that marketing company is still on the company’s payroll.

I find it incredible that this was allowed to happen in the first place. You’d think part of the agreement with the marketing firm was that all campaigns and ideas needed to be approved by Sophos before being put into action? If not it was a foolish mistake on their part. If the marketing company was supposed to get approval but didn’t bother, shame on them!

This illustrates the importance of really checking out any company you hire to do advertising, marketing or PR. These companies will be representing you and any mistakes they make will reflect on you. A good reputation takes a while to build but can be shattered in an instant. If you decide to work with a company, do your homework. Research them and get recommendations from colleagues, and have your legal department go over contracts carefully. Make sure you make it very clear the kinds of advertising and publicity techniques you are okay with and which ones are forbidden, and make sure you approve all campaigns before they are launched. Finally, make the consequences of any kind of spamming or SEO attack activity crystal clear.