Sernovitz Appears to Bust a Move with 90-Day Membership Review

That's dips, not drops. That's dips as in dancing. That's when two people or organizations spin and trip the light fantastic together.

"Dips" are common to many dance forms, e.g. Tango, Lindy Hop, Salsa, Ballroom. Note, the following is an example of the "Lean Dip." In the lean dip: "The base and flyer stand side by side, with the base's hand on her hip. The base lunges sideways, away from the flyer, holding her hip to his. She keeps one leg straight and styles with the other."

Bowing to continued audience jeers over the premature conclusion of last week's elegant WOMMA-Edelman ethics dance, Andy Sernovitz, CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association this week ostentatiously busted a mean move and put Edelman's membership on 90-day review.

In a letter delivered to Edelman, the association reiterated the seriousness of Edelman's breach of WOMMA's Code of Ethics for their fraudulent actions regarding the "Wal-Marting Across America" website. The association then posed that Edelman take the following actions:

- Provide assurances that all inappropriate programs have been stopped.
- Provide a briefing to the WOMMA Executive Committee to fully explain the details of the incident.
- Institute systems to prevent violations in the future.
- Provide detailed documentation of your compliance with the above requests.

Sernovitz then totally vogued. The letter underscored strongly that if these things were not done, it "reserved the right to implement additional penalties, including but not limited to: demanding additional corrective action, removal of Governing Member status, removal from the Board of Directors, or expulsion from the association."

Note: "The base lunges sideways, away from the flyer, holding her hip to his. She keeps one leg straight and styles with the other."

IS MURRAY DANCING WITH HIMSELF?

However, some argue that Edelman's Murray is actually "dancing with himself."

Keep in mind, dance is drama and for show. As a "Governing Member," Edelman gives Sernovitz & Friends $10,000 a year. That gets Edelman: a "Seat on the Leadership Committee;" "First choice of committee chairs;" and "Unlimited executive participation."

As such, in all likelihood, Rick Murray, WOMMA’s Treasurer and member of the association's Governing Board, hand delivered the letter he helped prepare to Rick Murray president of Edelman's "Me2Revolution," the Edelman practice responsible for the fraud and breach of ethics.

In effect that leaves Murray humming Billy Idol:

Oh dancing with myself;
Oh Oh dancing with myself;
Well there's nothing to lose;
And there's nothing to prove;
I'll be dancing with myself.

INDEPENDENT JUDGES REVIEW

Edelman seemed to have fun this week with the potentially gimmicky dance Sernovitz devised for them. Their chemistry has improved markedly over some of their early performances, which tended to be stiff and uncharismatic. Still, the "paso doble" didn’t seem particularly rich in the stomping dominating energy that usually distinguishes it. The dance got a 6 and two 8s from our judges, keeping Edelman in the hunt but leaving a lot of wiggle room.