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Opinion: Netpresenter exploits Virginia Tech killings in ill-timed press release

April 16, 2007 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

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Good business people know always to be on the lookout for opportunities. They also know the difference between being on the lookout and being a vulture.
Based on a horribly timed press release issued by digital signage company Netpresenter, we have a vivid illustration to help identify the latter.
Less than 24 hours after the final body count was tallied at the campus, the site of the worst mass murder in U.S. history, Netpresenter issued a press release through a news agency that said, in essence, if the school had deployed its product, fewer people might have been killed.
Read for yourself what the company considers good PR:

"A community alert system using all available PC screens, digital signs and student notebooks, could have made a difference at Virginia Tech University," says Frank Hoen, CEO of Netpresenter. In yesterday's news conference, Virginia Tech University President Charles Steger said notifying students immediately about the first shooting incident would have been difficult and impractical. "We know it could have been done -- with the right system the majority of students and staff could have been alerted."

The press release appears in its entirety on the Netpresenter Web site, along with convenient links to the Netpresenter Emergency Alert Server.

Here's the thing: Even if Netpresenter's Hoen is right, he has taken advantage of an unprecendented tragedy to sell digital signs. Thirty-three people are dead, the police are still doing their very difficult work, and families are still learning the gruesome details. To Frank Hoen and Netpresenter, it's marketing time.
The growing digital signage industry is full of class-act companies. We know now there is one less than we thought.

About James Bickers

James Bickers is the former senior editor of Retail Customer Experience, and also manages webinars for Networld Media Group. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist and innovative content strategist, with publication credits in national, international and regional publications.

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