Johan Brand
Producer & Partner Services
- Loves: Salt water... where my sail boat floats, Wind (heavy ocean storms), Snow (loads of fluffy white stuff)
- Hates: Spelling (Dyslectic Norwegian living in the UK = disaster), Melting snow, Crammed tubes
- Inspired by:
- Hirosi Sugimoto
- www.carls-cars.com
- www.onedotzero.com
- intelligent people
- the ocean
- My links:
Great marketing trumps great technology
Julie Meyer writes in her column in CityA.M that if you want your technology to catch on you should hire good PR, I could not agree more. The key is to have an easy to get value proposition. Skype launched with: 'free calls on the web'. Yup, thanks! I would not mind calling free over the net, but most of us really do not care that much if it is VoIP or any other obscure technology. We like the word free though.
She also mentions a site called Ebuzzing, which is a bloggers forum, enabling them to blog about stuff and services they think is worth a shout. Benefit for the blogger is that he/she is getting paid, and the brand they care about gets good PR. The dangerous thing about Ebuzzing is, as bloggers gets paid to write, we are entering a territory where independent voices like a blogger is no longer so independent. Having said that, I am blogging here on playgroup.com as a staff member...
Posted by Johan on 29 Apr 08, at 9:18 am
2 comments on this post
Buzz from blogs is becoming a well worn path for brands. With 'Balls', Sony Bravia reinvented the 'event advert' with well seeded preview content online. Its been doing the same for the Play Doh bunnies and its latest creation 'Foam City'.
Paying bloggers to talk about the brand seems a bit unnecessary when you get effective word of mouth for free.
That doesn't sound very genuine. Paid blogging is a total contradiction in terms. The essence of blogging is that it is the voice of the individual. External influences, such as money, can only dilute the credibility of the message.
You are absolutely right Johan – now where's that fiver you owe me!