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Sony-Ericsson Starts US$5M Astroturf Campaign
lairdb writes "The WSJ reports today (31Jul02) that Sony Ericsson will be marketing their new T68i cellphone/camera combo unit via "shills" to create a grassroots buzz. Specific tactics will include fake tourist couples at popular attractions asking bystanders to take their picture, and "leaners": pairs of women ("actresses and female models") at bars playing interactive Battleship with each other from opposite ends of the bar.
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]""
Don't we have laws requiring advertisments to be obvious? If an ad is not obvious, isn't it required to specifically state "paid advertisement"? This certainly takes the role of a paid advertisement.
2 women (supposedly gorgeous) playing battleships in a bar... Riiight. EricSony marketoids needs to get out more.
I mean how may people can these folks contact in an hour? If they are trying to make it look like a chance encounter then they can't be doing it to every person that passes by. And what does a pair of actresses cost per hour? Unless it generates a lot of follow on word of mouth my guess that what is going on here is a bunch of ad execs trying to show off how 'outside the box' they can think.
If a restaurant, bar, or other private firm posts a "no soliciting" notice, the people engaged in this deceptive ploy might be hauled off for trespassing. Alternatively, the owner could take Sony/Ericsson to court and demand a fee for using his/her establishment to advertise their products.
It's an innovative way to market a product. Why on earth is this article so negative about it, almost like it's a morally reprehensible thing to do?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
This advertising technique only works if the phones are cool. If the phones don't have new features to show off, or they don't work well, all you've done is convince somebody that they don't want to upgrade from their current phone.
Perhaps I'm missing something, but what's the problem with spending $5 million on the roll-out of a new luxury product? What's next, outrage that TiVo often gives free units to stars, in the hopes that they'll like it enough that they'll end up saying TiVo during interviews?
Taking out the battery until you get home?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Conformity is a powerful magnet, even if you're aware of it and actively trying to be different (which itself can be a kind of conformity).
--
Power to the Peaceful
How is it any different....we'd hand them a business card....
That's precisely how it's different: you let them know it was your business (presumably; you didn't say you handed the onlookers a business card while claiming you'd gotten it as a customer), and that let them know that you were naturally biased in favor of your own product.
It's pretending they're customers rather than shills that offends: if my friend buys product X, and tells me it's excellent, I assume my friend isn't being remunerated to do so, so I trust that's his real opinion. That's why we don't call acquaintances who sell Amway or Tupperware "friends".
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Ordinarily I'd gladly take a photo of a couple, but these photos are meaningless.
Muahaha, I see something coming.
"Hello Mister Miller, you bought the Sony Ericsson's T68i last week, how are your first impressions?"
"Bad, really bad. I just returned it to the shop. Everywhere I went to with the phone, people were mad at me for being a "Sony con".
One man even threatened to knock me up, just because I wanted him to take a picture from my wife and me."
"Other components of the promotional campaign are more commonly used buzz initiatives. One involves "Phone Finds," in which the company will place dummy phones around cities so that consumers can accidentally stumble on them. The screen on the phone will direct the finders to a special Web site, where they will be able to enter a contest to win a free phone. The new phone with camera attachment, priced between $300 and $400, will hit stores next week." I can see these phone ending up a pawn shops or wherever, it seems like Sony could just scatter real phones instead of spending the moolah to build fakes ones. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, I'd rather have folks "find" a free phone and sign up for a service plan (and don't you think everyone would tell their friends about the new phone they found) rather than putting out dummy phones that only advertise.