Nikon's Public Relations faux pas

Nikon makes great products. I love their D700 and their D3/D3x. Even the D300 looks fantastic. But something they've always tripped up on is their PR, so it was no surprise when I read that they bungled up their party at the Chicago BlogHer '09 conference. They hosted a party at a restaurant that had a "no babies allowed" rule, which wouldn't be a problem if this was BlogBachelor '09.

But since this is BlogHer, and Nikon invited several mommybloggers to the party, it became a viral talking point. For good reason too, since mommybloggers, by definition, have babies. Often with them. Nikon had to turn away several of their invited guests because they turned up with their babies.

The outcome was not good. Though it was not anything near an outrage, it caused unneeded embarassment for Nikon. Looks like they still have a lot to learn, not unlike many other brands, on how to engage a community empowered by social media. Like not to book a venue that don't admit babies to host women who have babies.