Slashdot Mirror
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.]""
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]"
Never mind telling the world via WSJ
... before the pick-pocket crowd notice these shills... With their neverending supply of cameras provided by the company... Being paid to hand them over to other people they don't know... cameras that are new and thus expensive and in high demand...
This should be amusing.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
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.
Supposedly the actors/models hired for this won't lie when asked if they work for Sony/Ericson, but I wonder how specific the line of questioning has to be? These people are going to waste other peoples' time asking for photos to be taken of them. Ordinarily I'd gladly take a photo of a couple, but these photos are meaningless.
I've got one, and it's great. You can even take pictures with it! Or play wireless games with other T68i owners. I wouldn't want to be the last person to get one of these...
Astroturf isn't nearly so offensive when they're admitting to it up front. In fact, it's more like the Turing Test - can you tell the real technophile barfly from the fake one? Of course, I think the odds of running into two women playing wireless Battleship in a bar are pretty low, so the test would be biased in favor of 'shill' - but for other tests it would be kinda fun.
...specific tactics will include fake tourist couples at popular attractions asking bystanders to take their picture...
/me runs off with the phone.
Me: "Sure, folks, I'll take your picture. Move back towards the fountain."
Tourists (moving back): "How's this?"
Me: "No, no, a little farther back."
Tourists (moving back again): "Better?"
Me: "Hey, I know! Why don't you take off your shoes and stand *in* the fountain?"
Tourists: "Umm.... okay."
(Tourists take off shoes and socks and wade into fountain.)
Tourists: "Okay, how's this?"
~Philly
Back in the day when the shopping cart was invented (were talking 1937 - not amazon.com) the first stores to offer these contraptions noticed that they were not catching on at all .. so what did they do?
...
They resorted to hiring models to shop with grocery carts as to "model" the behavior desired for customers.
Needless to say it worked like a charm
Most of you people will dismiss this because it's coming from Sony, but were it Microsoft doing something similar you'd be raising all kind of hell.
I'm more worried about Sony that I've been about Microsoft. Sony has its hands on too many things and has shown a willingness to use any means to abuse its position.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
HAHA! Ignore all the claims to the contrary...I have this phone and it's GREAT! it has totally fulfilled all my cellular phone expectations...not to mention that I am now a funnier and more popular person. also I am better looking.
/. "joes" like myself...and believe me, you might even just want to send some extra free money to ericsson after you see how good it is.
you should TOTALLY try out this phone. I mean, yeah, you could listen to the "marketroids" (haha!!! lingo!) or you could just take the word of regular
your average slashdotter,
sean
ps I CERTAINLY don't work for ericsson...haha!
pps did you notice I wrote "/." instead of "slashdot"? I am SO clearly one of you guys
I can see it now... www.LeanerSpotting.com
2 women (supposedly gorgeous) playing battleships in a bar... Riiight. EricSony marketoids needs to get out more.
[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]""
:)
For example, they explained their marketing campaign to the Wall Street Journal, an internationally distributed newspaper with a daily circulation of 1,943,601, and gave said paper specific examples of the kinds of things that their actors will be doing. Then, once this paper prints an article on it, it gets posted to slashdot.org, a heavily accessed website frequented by virtually everyone in the target group of wierdass technology toys like a digital camera/cellphone allinone.
Sony, you are brilliant. No one will ever suspect the details of your devious plan. They will think all those shills are real people. Sony: international troll of mystery! If only Microsoft were this good at keeping its secrets from the public, Security though Obscurity might actually work.
---
Now that i have the blatant, boring cynical sarcasm over with, i have to say this for them: well, their campaign sure worked! In that, it was successful in one thing: i heard about it. So did you. So did everyone in this forum. Everyone here may know Sony was using dubious marketing practices, but they also know that Sony is selling a cell phone that doubles as a digital camera. Which, now that i think about it, is fucking cool. I want one.
This type of advertising campaign, for me, is more of a 'turn on' to the product than a commercial. It's a real life demonstration of the product's capabilities in a setting you'd use them...think infomercial cept live.
Plus, because you don't know you're being targetedly-advertised to, you're more receptive to the idea. Adds have the problem of overcoming the psycological barrier of "being sold", whereas a tourist who needs his picture taken, and also happens to have an elite new digital camera/cell phone that you want to know more about, is more effective. It leaves more of an impression.
Impression is what advertisers are after, at the bottom line.
Before a certain incident which messed up the airline industry pretty bad, my brother held a similar job for one of the major commercial airlines. He was an internet shill for this company. His job was to visit travel websites, message boards, newsgroups, and even AOL travel forums and basically promote his employer as subtlely as possible. The idea was to create a good image of the airline without making it obvious that he worked for them.
He'd make posts under fake names telling stories of how he just used the airline and had a great experience. If he found someone railing on the airline for a particular issue ("my inflight meal was dry") he'd counter it with a positive example ("I flew from LA to Miami last week and the food was great"). Same thing if people were complaining about fares, being bumped, or whatever. He was like an anonymous and multi-faceted PR guy, doing his best to influence peoples opinions of his airline.
I wouldn't doubt that other industries are doing the exact same thing.
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.
Tommy Hillfiger did this to promote their clothes in poor black areas of NYC.
Triv
I mean, come on. How about a straightforward demo of the damn things?
At MacWorld 2 weeks ago, these things were all over the place so people could demo Apple's new iSync software. There was no subterfuge, it was, "Here's the phone, try it out for yourself." And it worked. I want one.
Why do they deem it necessary to stoop to all this sneaky shit? If the product is good, people will want it without some fucking Jedi Mind Trick-style advertising campaign.
Ah, and the obligatory Simpsons quote:
Moe: "Hi, uh, could I buy you a drink?"
Cute Girl in Bar: "Sure! How about a Bacardi Cooler?"
M: "Uh.. ok."
CGiB: "Or even a Bacardi Rita? Because Bacardi makes the night come alive... with freshness!"
M: "What, do you work for Bacardi?"
CGiB: "No, I'm in love with you."
CGiB slaps a "Drink Rum" sticker on Moe's forehead
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.
For your average /.'er, the girls at the bar should be easy to spot. General rule, if a good looking girl at a bar shows even the slightest bit of interest in you, then they MUST be getting paid (one way or another), and you'd be best to avoid them and go back to playing with your Palm in the back corner.
'So, how much does Sony pay you for this?'
I am a science fantasy fan
BEFORE everyone goes to the Ericsson job site and slashdots it, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that there are currently three jobs available: two in the Netherlands and one in Nigeria. Alas, I don't believe any of them involve walking around pretending to be tourists while getting paid.
Sorry to burst your bubble.IWARS.
People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
Sony-Ericsson is going much further with this, to actually train and pay the people. That's unusual. Those people who hand you invites in clubs seldom get more than free admission. Models who go out in designer outfits often get the outfit as a freebie, but no pay. Many of the wilder haircuts are freebies, too; stylists have to try out their exotic styles on somebody. Ask women with wild haircuts where they got them done; often it's a promotional deal. And almost everybody in the sales end of the rag trade gets promotional deals on clothing.
The net result of this kind of marketing will be to make people suspicious of each other. It is evil. As someone else pointed out, normal demos would do better, except they might be run off by park officials for soliciting.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
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?"
According to SonyEricsson filings to the FCC, the hardware of the T68i is identical to that of the T68 - it's just a new cover, new back, and different coloured LEDs behind the keypad.
The rest of the differences are in the software. In most markets that T68i is available in, SonyEricsson have made a software update available for the T68 - effectively transforming it into a T68i. The software upgrade has been available in most of Europe and Asia for a few months now. Down here in Australia, we're still waiting for it and the T68i to be officially released.
There are currently two different models of snap-on cameras ("CommuniCam") for these phones.
The original CommuniCam is the MCA-10, which works with the original T68 and a few of Ericsson's older phones.
The new model is the the MCA-20, which currently works only with the T68i, afaik.
The older model has an inbuilt viewfinder, and most of the 'brains' are within the camera itself - the phone is little more than a data device. The newer model has no inbuilt viewfinder - you do the viewfinding on the phone screen itself. More of the processing has been moved into the phone; so the phone now stores the images internally, and can use them for MMS (multimedia messaging), screen backgrounds, caller number presentation, etc.
When XP and Redhat 7.(2 or 3) came out at about the same time, I went right over to CompUsa to get my copy and as I approached the checkout counter some guy who had been standing near the register with a box of XP excitedly asked the clerk if there was any software for XP, who pointed at the Office XP, etc. in the first rack behind the registers. He ran over and merrily grabbed one of everything that said XP on it and headed back to get in line behind me. The clerk virtually busted out laughing when he saw I was buying Redhat though I didn't get the feeling that he was laughing at me, and he said they had been selling a lot of it. The whole thing with the XP guy just seemed staged, especially after I looked back on my way out and they weren't even ringing up his "purchases". So I don't think using shills to generate fake excitement is anything new.
"The company decided to make available hundreds of sets of the new portable cassette player, free of charge, to key persons prior the public launch. These key persons were carefully chosen and selected. Sets were given to magazine editors, and specially, touring musicians, they use to carry records and tapes of the music they are going to play and the directors comments and instructions of different aspects of the piece in order to be prepared for the concert."
.. who owns the Ericsson phone business??? Sony!
"A further promotional tactic involved the company paying couples to stroll through Tokyoís biggest and important shopping district whilst listening to their Walkmans. Several Vox Populi interviews. were conducted in collaboration with broadcasters, in the airports and train stations, to ask visitors to Japan about their opinion and their responses to the new portable cassette
player. Their reactions were video - taped and featured in news broadcasts."
Wait a second
More on http://www.eafit.edu.co/revista/117/acosta.pdf
Erricson Chick: Hi will you take a photo of me and my girlfriend with my new phone? .45 pistol with tungsten slide........
Coors Guy: Sure! Here hold my refreshing coors lite while I do it!
Miller guy: Hey watch the elbows buddy! I nearly dropped my Miller! Its full of beer goodness godamnit!
GM Chick: Hey who's new Sierra is that out front?
Coke Chick: Who cares, does this bikini make me look fat, I've been drinking diet coke all week!
GM Chick: Shutup!
Toshiba Guy: Girls dont fight! Here lets play some games on this NEW Toshiba laptop!
Colt Guy: Everyone FREEZE! This is a stickup! Notice i'm holding the new Colt
Insert something insightful here, or I'll insert something painful there.
"Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice."
"Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived. "
"Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman."
http://www.cluetrain.org/
No Zen is good zen
Taking out the battery until you get home?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Would you rather see a couple hot chicks in the bar playing battleship (and actually even be able to engage in a conversation with them, the fact they're selling you a phone aside) or would you rather see yet another fucking pop-up, banner ad, spam, billboard, or tv commercial?
How is it any different from seeing a new toy that a friend, co-worker, or even complete stranger has and deciding you might want to buy one? Who was the first person you ever saw with a Palm Pilot? Did they tell you how much it costs and where you can get one? How's that any different?
An old business partner and I used a similar tactic when we were running a small gunsmithing business....we put together a couple of really pimped out custom rifles (a couple AR-15s and an SKS) and hit the local firing ranges. When people would ask "wow, where the hell did you get that?" we'd hand them a business card and let 'em take a few shots. I don't see this phone tactic as much different....it's a non-intrusive way to get your product out there.
This message brought to you by the Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People.
I used to own an Ericsson. They definitely suck.
She: "Hi, I'm a cute girl who doesn't work for any major multinational corperation and I'm just playing around with my super cool camera phone!"
Me: "Wow, that IS cool... Of course my year-old j-phone I got in osaka also takes digital pictures, sends email, plays games, and even can access the internet. Here want to look up the spec's on google? Use my phone. Oh, and it cost me about $50 when I got it new, and it's smaller and lighter than your phone by orders of magnitude and generally can run two or three weeks before it needs to be recharged (which takes about an hour)... Oh, wait, what were you saying again?"
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
How convincing would it really be to have an average slashdotter outrunning two or three physically fit supermodel actors/actresses?
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
Why am I now picturing a scene from 'John Carpenter's The Thing' but instead of grizzly scientists in arctic parkas I see a circle of cellphone wielding models suspiciously eyeing each other...
"I don't know which of you to trust..."
"I know *I* am not a leaner..."
"I don't care what you say... any of you moves I shoot..."
"I saw Tiffany go outside with Barbi alone. If Barbi is a leaner, then Tiffany might be one too now..."
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
"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.