I started keeping tally of Jarvis v Dell, the rematch, yesterday afternoon, when I noticed that Jarvis had decided to go on the offensive against Dell’s new, somewhat half-assed attempt at a customer service blog.
I awarded Dell a point for having gone out and read, acknowledged and linked to the Buzzmachine’s criticism. I would have given Jarvis a point for his useful advice to Dell but then I noticed him complaining that Dell wasn’t listening – when, in fact, they were trying to.
Now it’s 1:1 with GCI Group, a subsidiary of Dell’s ad agency Grey, scoring an own goal – they’ve had to go on the record and admit, after Jarvis traced the IP address of a commentor back to their offices, that a "summer intern who got caught up in the emotion around your [Jarvis’s] postings" had astroturfed the buzzmachine. Ouch.
After each side has scored an own goal, it’s Jarvis 1, Dell 1.