Here, let's review some of the most recent bearish news. This from late last month:
- Interpublic seeks "peer level" rev growth by '08 (i.e. it's bad and better is maybe on the far horizon.)
- Interpublic's Lowe to cut down offices, refocus (i.e. they may cut that dog loose.)
- Interpublic to exit some unprofitable businesses (i.e. time to redo the resume.)

And if that wasn't bad enough, just last week Lowe got a big fat red D+ for a report card from Adweek magazine. And if that doesn't beat all, this last Wednesday, Moody's dropped the company's rating.

"NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday cut its ratings on the Interpublic Group deeper into junk territory, citing the company's weaker than expected profitability for the fiscal year 2006. What's more, Moody's warned it may cut the ratings further if the company does not improve its top-line growth and cuts costs in selected units.

The downgrade also reflects an expectation that it will take longer than originally anticipated to turnaround the company, likely extending from 2007 into 2008, Moody's said in a statement.

The previous week the company reported a $34.2 million net loss for the fourth quarter and restated earnings for the rest of 2005.

Moody's said in a statement, 'In the absence of top line growth (net of dispositions), as well as cost savings in certain subsidiaries, such as Lowe, in 2006, the rating will likely be cut further.'"

Yikes!! To quote an internal memo from Lowe's chairman and chief creative officer Mark Wnek, "As is the case with much of the journalistic coverage of our agency, it seems that the writers have chosen to take every detail and twist it to paint the worst possible story." Indeed Mark, that's what bears do. Bears poop in the woods.

So generally speaking, what does one do so as the bear doesn't eat you? That's really key. Imagine you're Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO of Interpublic. What do ya suppose he's thinking about now? Well I'll tell ya. He's thinking, "NOBODY MOVE!! And shhhhhhhut...the... fuck... up. Don't look at it!" He's so hoping that, maybe, just maybe, the bear will go away.

Turns out that's pretty accurate. According to naturalist and all-around mountain guru Ward Cameron, "What do you do when you encounter a bear," this would be Situation #3 - Bear has detected you and shows signs of aggression."

First, "You'll need to assess the situation. Are you dealing with a black bear or a grizzly? Are there cubs involved? Are there climbable trees nearby and do you have sufficient time to climb them?"

Two key point of advice:

"Try to retreat slowly. Back up slowly and try to put more space between you and the bear. Talk softly and calmly so that it can identify you as human, and slowly back up. Don't make direct eye contact, but keep a close look at the bear as you back away.

If a grizzly makes contact, playing dead in a daytime grizzly encounter tends to reduce the level of injury sustained by most attack victims. Playing dead may show the bear that you are not a threat."

So... how can you use blogging to avoid getting killed? Let's turn to our celebrity blog advocates.

You may recall in our first post here, we called celebrity blogger/evangelist Steve Rubel of Edelman, the poster boy for the corporate "Loose-Canon Club." In his post "Who Should Speak?" he said, "All of this leads to a larger issue. Who is a corporate spokesperson? Is it any employee who blogs, the CEO, who?"  In light of the bear on the path directly in front of Interpublic, go tell that to Roth. I'd pay to see the look on his face. Priceless.

Now before we get carried away, keep in mind that most bloggers are lightweight aggregators with little original to say. But occasionally, some seem to stand out. Some seem to go out of their way to demonstrated the disconnect between the c-suite and the frontlines.

Two of PR's most prolific and outspoken PR bloggers happen to hail from Interpublic Group Companies.

Jeremy Pepper joined Weber Shandwick last January as "one of the industry's earliest and best-known PR bloggers." According to his press announcement, "His POP! PR Jots is currently one of the top 20 most popular PR blogs, ranked in the top 15 percent of the world's most actively linked blogs." Pepper presently serves as group manager in the company's San Francisco office, working closely with clients to develop and drive online communications strategies.

Pepper continues writing POP! PR Jots. The follow are just a few recent and random quotes. Okay, in light of the surrounding grizzly bears (see above), imagine Roth saying/blogging things like this on behalf of Interpublic and its shareholders:

"AT$T is beginning to look like it is going to dominate the pipeline, and be the possible backbone of Internet 2.0. Yes, in some sense that is scary - but the funny thing to me is that it's a big "fuck you" to those bloggers that were all up in arms about the AT&T billboards, and the whining that ensued."

"Skype is blowing it, particularly in the public relations department."

"Here's a little jaunt down bad PR lane, and how Facebook is just not getting it."

Innocuous? Sure. But it's just the kind knucklehead noise that can irritate a snaggle-toothed grizzly. Sure irritates me. Question, why even take the risk? I mean, you never know.

Well, perhaps we chalk it up to naiveté and bad timing. Actually no. It's actually something more problematic and fundamental. Jeremy and friends don't know that there is a time to shut up, period. Tom Biro, Director of New Media Strategies at the MWW Group nails the disconnect dead on. In a recent post he says, "I love when people decide that they don't like what you're doing on your blog, and threaten to go to your employer about it. That's like saying people should go to employers over whatever people do offline in their own lives, and only makes for annoying threats." Translation: "Damn the company; I can do/say whatever I want. I am a blogger."

So in light of the situation, why does Interpublic keep that around? Certainly seems curious. Bill Holstein, of Chief Executive Magazine indirectly offers an answer. Bill recently wrote an article titled, "The six things CEOs don't understand about PR people." The No. 2 reason Bill says, "Top PR people hire children to do most of the talking with reporters. They don't know anything, which usually irritates the reporter. But if something goes wrong in how a reporter covers your organization and you get angry, the children can be sacrificed."

In light of the fact that Interpublic IS a communications company and does clearly understand that it is at least standing in bear poop, their posts are a case study for the absolute genius of corporate blogging. It's a diversion. Jeremy and Tom are fodder.

"Daddy Daddy, can we go pet the teddy bear? Can we fee 'em? Can we feed 'em?"

Sure Jeremy. You and Tommy go play with the fuzzy little bear. Go ahead.

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