Dr. Pepper Tries New Astroturf Method

glh writes "Blogging continues to make its way into corporate America. Dr. Pepper is now blogging to build a community around their new dairy based Raging Cow product by using "key influence bloggers". The key influence bloggers are currently made up of six people mostly in their late teens/early twenties who get promo merchandise as their only form of compensation. In return, they get to "advertise however they want" through their blog. Seems like this experiment could turn into the next "big thing" in advertising-- assuming people are willing to sell out their blog space. Bloggers beware!"

Comments

Advertising: Nothing new

[Metallic Matty]

This is just more of the same ol' story: companies sticking their advertisements everywhere: cramming every possible orifice full of their logo. Now instead of being obnoxiously located above, below, and to the sides of all the content your reading on the net: it will now be located inside the content.

George Carlin was right.. bend over a little more..

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[MisterMook]

Part of the idea of ad marketing is not that a viewer actually likes the product but that they see the name so much that when the time comes to purchase a product the consumer automatically thinks of the marketer's product. There might be dozens of chicken restaurants in town, but when crunch time comes and the consumer is trying to think "where will I eat right now" they can't come up with a better solution than KFC, Churches, or Popeyes. Word of mouth might be a better solution to judging value, but advertising doesn't attach itself to better solutions it attaches itself to recognition.

That's the reason commercials are sometimes cute and that you even KNOW Bob Dole does commercials, recognition. At some point eventually you run into an area that word of mouth doesn't cover, that's where advertising works best.

Strangely enough, in the hermit-media culture we live in advertising has it's best chance. People work at home or don't talk with their coworkers very much, when they go out they go places to experience media formats and not to talk. Word of mouth is probably on the upswing on the internet, but it's still lacking much sense of community that makes most people's word of mouth recognizable as having more value than your average advertising campaign. After all, there are a lot of idiots who actually WATCH those commercials.

Slashdot blog implements new astroturf method

[br0ck]

Slashdot has legitimized this concept by linking to Raging Cow since the site is high on Google's pagerank index. I hope Michael enjoys his new hat.

next "big thing" in advertising...

[Queelix]

What does it tell you about this 'next "big thing"' that I spent 5 minutes at this site trying to figure out what it was trying to sell and had to google 'raging cow' to figure out somewhere else that it is flavored milk. Ugh.

Chicks wrestling in mud to sell beer. Now *that's* the 'next "big thing"'!

Q...

they're testing the advertising, not the colas

[GLowder]

With product names of "Chocolate Insanity" and "Pina Colada Chaos" it seems they'll bomb. Some exec at Dr Pepper probably decided to try and see what kind of impact this "new medium" might do for advertising what should be a quickly dead product. If it makes their marketing marginally better, you'll see it down the road for Dr Pepper's regular products. (Dr Pepper Exec)"Let's not just tarnish the good old Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper just yet with something that might be thought of as odd from an advertising standpoint."(/Dr Pepper Exec)

this doesn't bother me a bit.

[Hitch]

no one takes bloggers as an "unbiased news source" to begin with - and the people are free to advertise in any way they want, right? that means if they really do think it's crap, they're either a) going to say so or b) stop accepting it and stop writing about it. their only form of compensation is merchandise, so I'm more inclined to trust them than someone who says "oh, yeah, I LOVE Dr. Pepper! that's why they paid me $30,000 to appear in this commercial!". This blogger is saying "I LOVE Dr. Pepper! That's why I'm happily accepting crateloads of stuff to tell you about them!". IMHO, (I know, no such thing) this is actually a bit more sincere.

Well at least SOMEBODY is trying new things

[Bvardi]

At least it is nice to see some advertisers not going the route of picking traditional media and then using legislation to force that media upon people despite changing technology (Can anyone here remember a certain quote about using PVR's to skip ads being "stealing"?) Personally it's nice to see different models of advertising being explored... maybe with some luck we'll see a less invasive model that is more effective for advertisers and less annoying for everyday consumers. (Mind you I realize the likelyhood of that is about the same as Microsoft going the non profit corporation route..) Still, at least product endorsement/placement in blogging is preferable to having them install an LCD on the inside of my eyeballs and forcing ads into my subconscious. After all my subconscious is scary enough as it currently stands.

Beware of what?

[nanojath]

bloggers beware

Beware of what? Guess what kids - your culture is being appropriated by the marketeers! (pause for gasps of astonishment and chagrin).

Is there even a line between culture and commerce anymore? In any event, the raging cow site drips with manufactured "kewl" - if you're influenced by this kind of pap you deserve to be sold carbonated milk, or whatever the hell it is.

Re:Beware of what?

[swb]

I don't know what's funnier, the idea of blogging as some kind of culturally significant activity or the raging indignity of "legitimate" bloggers over people placing commercial content in their blogs.

drink ads

[Lxy]

I dunno, you can advertise a drink in any way you want to, but good advertising does not a good beverage make. Maybe it works for some people, but an advertisement makes me buy a drink once. From there on, the only way I'd buy it again is if it lived up to the hype.

Friends tell me how much I need to try Red Bull. I finally buy a can. Tastes like shit. No amount of persuasion from friends or TV will ever convince me to try it again.

Code Red. Why Pepsi is messing with Moutain Dew is beyond me. I try a bottle. Tastes like shit. I'll never buy Code Red again.

Vanilla Coke. I hear it advertised on the radio. I'm passing a convenience store, buy a bottle. Tastes like Coke and vanilla, but seperate. No blending of flavors. I'll never buy that again.

So, now there's some new drink from Dr. Pepper. I'll probably hear about it on the radio, or maybe see a blog. I'll buy a bottle some day. If I like it, I buy more. If I don't, I won't buy it ever again.

What's really amazing...

[foo fighter]

isn't that people are marketing this stuff in their blog. It is Dr. Pepper providing gear for their efforts.

Most people walk around happy to sport logos everywhere: their t-shirts, shoes, cars, computers (or computer components). They actually pay for the privilege. Why anyone would be surprised or upset about the tables being turned, I don't understand.

Product placement in our entertainment is everywhere and will become even more prevelent as traditional marketing becomes less effective. I view blogs as primarily entertainment and was frankly expecting this.

BTW, anyone see the Ford Focus car chase in Alias? I had to turn it off when they zoomed in for a lingering shot on the Focus' logo. Blech.