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

/. beat them to it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, but we're already hosting blog-ads here @ slashdot. Nothing to see here, move along. :P

Where do I sign up?

[GothChip]

I'd happily write about Dr Pepper each day I was sent a crate.

Re:Where do I sign up?

[LordFlower]

it seems slashdot has signed up already

Re:Where do I sign up?

[namespan]

And this is almost symbiotic and worthwhile. If you *really* like a product, I don't see why it would be anything but worthwhile to everybody accept compensation for endorsing it.

Think of your favorite computing language/OS/Environment, for an example. I'll happily go on and on about Mac OS X, for example. If Apple gave me free stuff for evangelizing, it wouldn't change that.

The only real concern I can think of: I will also grumpilly go on and on about OS X as well. Perhaps they wouldn't like that. Perhaps no free stuff anymore if I did that. But that really wouldn't be all that different than what's happening today. :)

Re:Where do I sign up?

[DJ FirBee]

No reason to sell your blog. Be like all the other nitwits and sell Amway instead.

I went to a guys apartment to watch De La Hoya box on pay per view and there was a bunch of seedy fucks there trying to make me sell Amway for them. Total setup from the get go.

They asked everyone in the room "what would you do with a million dollars?" when it was my turn to answer I said "I would become a heavily armed recluse in a sparsely populated western state with intention of training disciples to dispatch of pyramid growth scams".

It was like ... a minute before any of those morons said their next word. I was nearly out the door by the time the guy said "...but we are not a pyramid growth scam".

I went to a bar and watched the fight with people that were not wanna-be corporate scumbags. Definitely one of my finest hours.

Re:Where do I sign up?

[Asprin]

And this is almost symbiotic and worthwhile. If you *really* like a product, I don't see why it would be anything but worthwhile to everybody accept compensation for endorsing it.

And life just gets more and more like TV: Now, I have to consider whether my family/friends/coworkers are "gettin' paid" before I take them up on that recommendation to see "Master Of Disguise II".

Thanks, but no thanks. I like to think that my wife's-best-friend's movie recommendations suck because she has bad taste.

Re:Where do I sign up?

[eyeball]

And life just gets more and more like TV: Now, I have to consider whether my family/friends/coworkers are "gettin' paid" before I take them up on that recommendation to see "Master Of Disguise II".

Maybe it's a good thing to question everyone's motives in everything they say to you, regardless them being an advertiser, a teacher, a government, a religeous leader, a web log. Asking "why are they telling me this."

Why am I telling you this?

Re:Where do I sign up?

[Schnapple]

Had one like that. Friend of mine from college who I even lived with at one point came over to visit. The Wife is out of town and he's just hanging out until he meets someone else. So at one point he asks if he can show me a video - saying that he's going to show this tape to the person he's meeting and if that meeting falls through then at least he can still write the trip off as a business expense. Seems odd, but okay - this guy was always a little off anyway.

The video is for QuikStar (sp?), which is this deal where you start your own web business selling things like soap and toilet paper. Or something. At this point I of course realized I was being pseudo-scammed.

Since this guy was a friend and it was my house, it's not like I could leave. So I sat there and asked him why I would buy soap and toilet paper online instead of Wal-Mart and he had some sorta valid reasonings (like bulk) but I really don't want to plan out my soap buying that far in advance. When I asked him how it is that so many online businesses could succeed against each other (see Herbalife) he kept diverting the question.

I basically let the conversation die without giving him a yes or no answer as to whether this would be something I'd want to do. A friend of mine got into it with him (the contact he was in town to meet, I think) and shortly thereafter was doing everything in his power to get out of it.

Ironically, Quikstar is associated with Amway.

Re:Where do I sign up?

[Asprin]

Why am I telling you this?

I don't know about you, but I was karma whoring. ;)








(It *worked*, too, though I was shooting for 'funny', not 'informative'.)

Raging Cow?

[wembley]

I hope they don't try to launch that brand in the U.K.

Re:Raging Cow?

[Dr Caleb]

That's exactally the mental image I had at reading "Raging Cow". A temper-challenged bovine with vertical hold problems. Betcha that'll sell well in the UK.

Re:Raging Cow?

[redbaron7]

Considering that Dr.Pepper/7-Up is owned by Cadbury-Schweppes, it is probably a marketing joke...

RB

Look, Dr. Pepper has a PhD

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

Where do I sign up?

[doublem]

YES! A way to piss and moan to all the world and GET STUFF at the same time!

Yes!

Where do I sign up?

My LiveJournal is so sold out.

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

[Xzzy]

> bend over a little more..

wait, you mean people actually read weblogs?!

at any rate I would hazard that there's very little "bending over" going on here. Free expression and advertising are generally at odds with each other, and I'll hazard this is going to die a wimpering death.

By their very nature, blogs will resist corporate subversion.

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[Triv]

ever been to New York City?

ClearChannel Communications (my current nemesis of choice) has such a strong foothold in NYC it's scary. Want to listen to the radio? Most of the radio stations are run by clearchannel. See a show? They own broadway theaters. See a concert? Irving Plaza and Roseland (among others) are run by clearchannel. Avoid all that and take a walk? They own a good portion of the billboards. Take the subway instead? Sorry, the advertising in the subways (including the new digital billboards cropping up around certain subway lines) goes through them too.

Gives a new meaning to the word "Tentacle," don't it?

Triv

(It's not as scary as what I saw a few months ago, though - a Post Office truck with a big honkin' Microsoft MSN ad on the side.)

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[JimDabell]

wait, you mean people actually read weblogs?!

...he posted to slashdot.

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[Anonymous Coward]

Not posting as my username, as a significant portion of my livelihood is due directly to ClearChannel, but I totally agree. They have a monopoly on radio and concerts across the country. They've done it through consolidation, buying up every radio station and concert promoter in the country. It wasn't really any different a few years ago though, ClearChannel just added radio stations to the mix. They're also generally good to artists (payola, concert revenues, etc) and are willing to do anything that sells, not just promote the latest act. Can't really fault them for that, they're in the business to make money.

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[program21]

On my way to work from the PA Bus Terminal, I walk past a billboard - "How many ways has Clear Channel reached you today?"

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not as scary as what I saw a few months ago, though - a Post Office truck with a big honkin' Microsoft MSN ad on the side.

Thank God the words "powered by" were not preceeding the ad, otherwise my snail mail would be as fcuked up as my hotmail account.

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[hackstraw]

To be honest, I would prefer more advertising like this vs the flashy blinky noisy things all over the fscking place.

This is akin to product placement, and I would rather my favorite actor, Bob Dole, or whoever to casually use a product in my view while not disturbing the plot or whatever else I'm doing.

However, the problem is that everywhere I go, and everything I do is now inundated with advertisements. This is complete bullshit. I for the most part ignore advertisements. Besides the psychological, subconscious affects of advertising. (eg, Product X is a good company because we give back to the community, or simply product recognition), I don't see where advertising has any influence on my spending habits. And the few times that it has, I have felt burnt most of those times.

Here's a list of advertising bullshit that bothers me to no end:

• There's too much of it in magazines, I can't find the table of contents so I can read what I bought the magazine for.
• Ticketmaster advertises. These assholes are already charging me for the priveledge of buying a ticket, and they have the nerve to charge for advertising space too!
• Endlessly repeating .gif's or flash ads. I've got galeon set up to only repeat animation once, and I don't have a flast plugin, thank you.
• TV music programs where they play an ad between each song
• The amount of ads on cable television in general. What do I pay $40 a month for?
• A local university got $10 million from a car dealership to rent their name out on their new football stadium. I will not buy a car from them ever. If it had something to do with education, fine, but all I read from the car dealers actions is that they already make way too much money.

There must be more, I just can't think of them right now.

I guess that advertising is like spam, it exists because there must be some kind of reward for doing it. I ignore it. Word of mouth works fine. Believe me I trust someone I know much more than some washed up actor/athlete/Bob Dole pushing a product on me because they say they like the product. I feel as though ads are insulting, because I can go to a store and evaluate products or ask a sales person, or read up on a product beforehand. Bah, I've gone on too long already.

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.

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[scott1853]

What's that got to do with reading?

Re:Advertising: Nothing new

[SN74S181]

a Post Office truck with a big honkin' Microsoft MSN ad on the side.

Actually, the big box of AOL CD's at the local post office is so big it takes up a lot of the working space on the counter. Makes it a hassle to fill out the forms, etc.

Each CD is stickered with something about 'buying stamps online' and what-not. I suppose that's the tie-in that gives AOL permission to have their junk on the counter.

I'm all for it

[Bobulusman]

Since I've never read a blog and and never plan to, I don't care how much advertising they put in it. Plus, maybe they would spend less on other areas and I would have to deal with less annoying flash ads.

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.

Sheesh

[Bob Abooey]

First they hire "Garth Brooks" as their spokesman and now they target bloggers... I think they are showing their total lack of "clue" when it comes to marketing. Why not mix the two and go after redneck bloggers who dig bad country music?

Or maybe they should think about picking up Britney Spears now that Pepsi has dropped her for Shakira...

Re:Sheesh

[cmallinson]

I think they are showing their total lack of "clue" when it comes to marketing

If people now are talking about Dr. Pepper more than we were yesterday, then the marketing approach has already worked.

Re:Sheesh

[Enzondio]

Actually Pepsi doesn't own Dr. Pepper. They are in fact owned by Cadbury (and by Coca-Cola in the UK).

Pepsi does bottle and distribute Dr. Pepper in the states, however.

As this article suggests, you are not the only one with this misconception.

Re:Sheesh

[japhmi]

Actually Dr Pepper is owned by the Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Company, which is owned by Cadbury Schweppes. Pepsi is only one of several bottlers and distributors of Dr Pepper in the US.

Re:Sheesh

[sean23007]

Hey, I'd try to pick up Britney Spears if she's available, but she got dumped by a large corporation? I mean sure, she's been dumped by a lot of people, but a company? That's low... :)

I guess it's OK

[The Bungi]

After all, any self-respecting geek knows that it is NOT Jolt that gets one through those late-night coding sessions, no. It's Dr. Pepper.

Dr. Pepper is the Official Elixir (TM) of the United Brotherhood of Freaky Coding Sprees, bless our jittery hearts.

So I suppose that if I get some free Dr. Pepper I'll blog their warez to death. I mean, it's just par for the course.

Re:I guess it's OK

[stratjakt]

It's all about Mountain Dew Code Red these days, old timer.

I'm sure Dr Pepper goes just fine with your FORTRAN subroutines.

Raging Cow is great

[Col. Klink (retired)]

Why would they have to pay people? Raging Cow is such a wonderful product, it sells itself.

Before I used Raging Cow, my life was miserable. Now I'm more popular than ever and my sex life has improved!

Where do I go to apply for my free stuff?

Re:Raging Cow is great

[$$$$$exyGal]

Col. Klink (retired),

Thank you for advertising our 'Raging Cow' milk-based (now less phlegm inducing than 'Code Red Cow Drink') drink. My company and I applaud your efforts of joining the 21st century of blogging. Our Vice President recently remarked, and I quote, "Col. Klink (retired) has increased our sales three-fold! Send him a 12-pack of our finest non-phlegmy milk-based drink".

I concur, Col. Klink (retired). You can now look forwards to receiving a refreshingly cool phlegm-free drink in your mailbox (please allow 6-8 weeks for shipping).

Tell your friends!
CEO Dr. Pepper

Re:Raging Cow is great

[PD]

Now that gives me a great idea. Everyone who has a web page, make a link to goatse.cx with the link text "Raging Cow" or else put the actual photo on your site with the text Raging Cow in the image tag and in some text around it.

We'll overflow google with links to goatse.cx. Every time someone searches on Raging Cow, they'll get what their stupid ass deserves.

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...

This is absurd.

[generic-man]

I find it impossible to believe that in this day and age, a large soft drink company such as Dr. Pepper thinks that they can buy their way into the hearts of good American people and get them to buy their new drink Raging Cow. Shame on you, Dr. Pepper, for inciting many good-hearted Netizens to shill for your company, Dr. Pepper, and its new drink Raging Cow.

I would just like to say that advertising has no impact on me and that I do not associate this ongoing Dr. Pepper campaign with Raging Cow. I am a free-thinking, free-willed individual, and it would be an outrage to think that I am dumb enough to fall for Dr. Pepper's marketing. In fact, all marketing is evil, and you (Dr. Pepper) are furthering that stereotype with the marketing for your new drink, Raging Cow.

I'm so mad, in fact, that I will instead drink dnL , another new beverage. dnL has all the great taste of 7-up, but with caffeine and a new rush of citrus flavor taste! dnL - Flip it! In fact, if you reply to this post, I'll send you a coupon good for one free dnL. dnL - Flip it!

Re:This is absurd.

[generic-man]

Thank you for your unbiased and above all positive review of Dr. Pepper's new beverage, Raging Cow! Have you tried dnL , a refreshing citrus blast beverage from the makers of 7-up? Enclosed, please find a coupon for one free dnL . dnL - Flip it!

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.

It works better that they thought...

[jea6]

I bet there aren't really "key bloggers of influence". Bloggers out there are writing about "Raging Cow" astroturfing with no compensation thus attaining the original goal of spreading brand awareness (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q =%22Raging+Cow%22+blog). Nobel Marketing Prize 2003.

gah

[nomadic]

assuming people are willing to sell out their blog space.

Oh please. Most of the people who run weblogs would probably sell out faster than a $5.00 PlayStation 2.

Re:I'll do it!

[Vann_v2]

How can anyone who claims to be a Dr Pepper fan spell it "Dr. Pepper?" This is a sad day.

"Hi.."

[grub]

"Hi, like.. my name is Ashley and I'm.. like.. a corporate BlogWhore.."

This is new?

[squiggleslash]

New my arse. This has been going on for a long time, Apple has being pulling exactly the same stunt for years, getting people who are widely read (Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry, Carrot Top, etc) to write constantly and incessantly about how great Apple Macs are.

Exactly the same. Except without the free merchandise.

Oh, wait...

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.

Hmm.

[superdan2k]

Looks like I should contact Apple, Nissan, and Seven about improving my lifestyle. I already sing the praises of my iBook and XTerra...and a custom built Axiom Titanium would round out my stable quite nicely.

Happy to...

[antispamist]

I think just about every blogger out there would sell out if they were given the chance, atleast once. I know I would :)

I'm sure it won't be long before this form of advertising quickly soils what is reasonably pure right now (at least it looks pure compared to what it will in a year!).

I'm a blogger, you're a a blogger

[sulli]

he's a a blogger, she's a a blogger, would you like to be a blogger too?

So basically they hoodwinked some blog kiddies

[Monofilament]

.. who don't know any better that you should get paid for advertising products that make money for other people. I mean why should you advertise for free for some corporation. I don't think the bloggies in question.. really have an idea of how much cheaper they're making things for Dr. Pepper. And in return they get what.. t-shirts.. hats merchanidise... Ha they're still advertising Dr.Pepper for free even with the damn compensation they get. Screw that! Thats why i hate most main line clothing products cause they plaster their name on the clothing. I mean what the hell I pay 80 bucks for a shirt.. that has the name of the company plastered all over it.. so i'm a walking advert for them.

Personally I have a blog.. blogs aren't my beef.. and yes I do advertise on my blog... for Blogger.. why? because its a free service.. i pay nothing to upkeep my blog, so thats good compensation. These people still have to upkeep their sites.. no compensation.

Oh well its gonna fail miserably anyway so who cares..

Re:So basically they hoodwinked some blog kiddies

[SN74S181]

We got a set of 'Coca-Cola' branded mixing bowls as a wedding present. I am in the process of slowly grinding the glazed-on Coca-Cola logo off the bowls. A few rubs with the flat face of the sharpening stone every time they get washed. Subtle, and it's necessary to be subtle, as my wife is influenced by the 'southern culture' or whatever that absolutely reveres Coca-Cola.

If and when she notices the slowly fading Coke logos on our mixing bowls, I'm going to tell her Coke has been late with payments for the adspace.

So long as the blogger is honest

[lavalyn]

I don't have a problem with it. If the blogger states on their site that they are receiving promotional goods from Dr. Pepper, then this form of advertising is about equivalent to banner ads with the little word "advertisement" underneath. Annoying but fair.

Somehow I don't think the bloggers will do that, so ignore what I just said.

Re:So long as the blogger is honest

[GreyyGuy]

I took a quick look on the blogs linked to hte Raging Cow page and none of them mention it, and a few of them included links or photos to the Raging Cow page, and referenced it like it was just another blogger.

Pretty sad.

Of course, it is pretty stupid of Dr. Pepper to have paid the money to fly them out if all they are doign is putting a link in their blog.

Re:Astroturfing through slashdot posts?

[adzoox]

I'd agree with your posts - the reason one gets modded down is mainly due to the demographic here at Slashdot. The majority of people here are early teen to mid 20's which tends to be more liberal minded or in some cases so far left because of "brainwashing" by educational institutions.

Don't get upset, I've gotten "flamebait" before, but I often get informative, insightful - the key is to be factual NEVER opinionated about religion and conservatism!

I'll use this post to make my comment as well: I have always thought that personalised/compensatory advertising was the way to go anyway. I think the Sprint Cellular painted VW's and other "ad cars" - which are free leases to the driver for a contractual period are a good idea.

Anyone remember the two auctions on eBay:

One auctioned off their child's name.

The other; auctioned off his bald head to walk around in DesMoines Iowa with an ad on his head

I'm surprised more of those types of things haven't happened or aren't pursued by companies.

An event sponsor gets a lot of press by giving away T-Shirts rather than coupons

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.

Re:drink ads

[robi2106]

But that is what advertising is for. Mission accomplished. You recognize the new product name and even consider buying it. Eventually you do. Granted, advertising would want you to buy it because it seems great, and because everyone else uses / consumes / does it.

With how many people reached by ads, the tiny fraction that act on the ad make the ad profitable.

Re:drink ads

[cgreuter]

Code Red.

I'd never heard of Code Red until that IIS worm. Maybe that's what Raging Cow needs too.

After all, aren't they trying to do viral marketing here?

Re:drink ads

[Idarubicin]

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.

That's what advertising is supposed to do.

You heard about the product; you tried buying the product.

If 10% of the people in the States buy only one bottle, that's still more than 25 million units sold. Small potatoes, yes--but if they get 10% of those to like the stuff, then that's nearly three million hooked customers. Ka-ching!

Re:drink ads

[mph]

Code Red is designed to carry the Mountain Dew image and branding to a sector that prefers sweeter drinks.

Sweeter than Mountain Dew?! I thought only the All-Syrup Super Squishee was the only thing that fit that description.

WARNING!

[Grahhh]

WARNING:
Do not let Dr Pepper touch your genitals; he is not a real doctor!

I figured out how they chose the 6 bloggers!

[GreyyGuy]

If you look at the blogs linked on the Raging Cow page, you will see they all have one thing in common.

Each one has some of the most horrible web design I've ever seen! Getting rid of any sort of indicator for URLs. Lots and lots of frames. Colors that make my eyes bleed. It's like they all read every book on what not to do and did it.

The marketing people must have thought that the pages are so bad they loop around the scale and become super-impressive and a hip.

Blogging Synergy

[poena.dare]

Corporate America has found a new advertising medium in blogging. However, to cut costs they have turned their prison-run call centers into "blog farms." While the results were extremely entertaining, they ended up sending the wrong message.

---

Slash, Rapist: Nothing in life is better than roughly grabbing the firm, artificial nodules of a semiconscious drunken whore and yelling exuberantly, "Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Free" at the top of my lungs to passing fear-filled elderly couples. Afterwards I had a Raging Cow with a shot of tequila in it...

Jim Tumor, Paranoid Schizophrenic: At the party we all had Raging Cows and celebrated by taking a slightly soggy slice of very moldy wheat bread and meticulously fashioning a quaint decorative party hat out of it for our dearest companion and pet lama, Cuthbert...

Lonnie Tingle, Murderer: Man, those Raging Cow drinks are great! I wish my life could have been as good as one of them. I guess it all went wrong when I repeatedly stabbed my parents with a dull kitchen knife because the circumcision I had when I was 8 days old went horribly awry...

Dave Candyman, Burglar: Often while enjoying the quaint bouquet of a Raging Cow, I would follow rich looking strangers at the local mall parking lot until they noticed. To explain myself I would innocently explain that I was looking for my baby brother, and at the same time, memorize their licence plate number...

Delbert Flapdoodle, Habitual Drunk: Gosh darn! Life can sure be funny sometimes. I always thought Raging Cow was an insult. It wasn't until the time my Jug and Washboard band was mistakenly booked to perform in a seedy dive in Harlem that I learned the truth...

Mac Soul, Stalker: As we relaxed on the couch, we shared a Raging Cow. I needed her to understand me. I would never hurt her in a million years! So I kept slowly massaging her delicate legs in a way that said, "Don't worry, I know we are just friends - but - if you ever want to take it further then it's fine with me." I kept waiting for her to say yes. Desperately waiting. Desperate...

Magzo Berman, Sociopath; I am taping the empty bottle of Raging Cow on my keyboard. Tap. Tap. Tap. Just 'cause I like the sound of the tapping, ever tapping, like the tapping on my chamber door. Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore!" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha and ha!

Switch!

[sweetooth]

I used to be a Mountain Dew junkie. I just couldn't last through an all night coding session without the stuff. Then I switched to Barqs Farmous Red Creme Soda. It's the elixer of life. It's smooth creamy flavor is wonderful. The best part is it's caffeine free. This means after a long night of pumping myself full of it's sugary sweetness while sitting in front of my CRTs I don't have to worry about having trouble falling asleep or waking up with a raging headache due to lack of caffeine.

Barqs Famous Red Creme Soda, I switched! Why haven't you?

Re:Switch!

[dcuny]

How many free cases is that post worth?

I hate to mention this (because it makes this post Grammar Police posting instead of merely -1 Still Not Funny), but here goes:

The Rule About It's and Its

• It's is only used as a replacement for "it is".
• The posessive is "its".

Unfortunately, application of this rule guarantees that your sentences look wrong.

Oh, yes: for creamy sugary smoothness, I rely on A&W Cream Soda. But who wants to drink what the Grammar Police drink?

I don't know which is worse.

[RatBastard]

I don't know which is worse, the number of "Sign me up, dude!" posts, or the cheap price you all have for selling your soul to corporate America. It's like those Tufts students who let spammers use their email accounts for $20.00 a month.

What amazes me about America is NOT that we seem to be a nation of whores, but that we are a nation of cheap whores.

Re:"a milk based product with an attitude"????

[Erbo]

I liked Glenn Reynolds' comment about that tag line:

"The last time I had a milk-based product develop an 'attitude,' it was because of insufficient refrigeration."

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.

Re:I'm a pepper...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sad thing is, probably over half the people here don't remember that. Dang.

For the record, I'm a pepper too!

Re:I'm a pepper...

[schon]

Sad thing is, probably over half the people here don't remember that

I remember! David Naughton was my hero when I was 7!

Re:Payola

[Erasmus Darwin]

"Seems like the same thing to me, except we're talking about blog space instead of airplay. If I was a blogger who had this proposal come to me, I'd report them to the FBI. Or am I totally off base here?"

You're totally off base here. The problem with payola is that the radio stations have a government granted monopoly allowing them license to utilize a finite public good. In a given area, there's a relatively small limit on the number of stations that can broadcast at a given time. Because of this, a pay-for-airplay system unfairly excludes a number of songs from the market and restricts the ability of the airwaves to be used to best benefit the citizenry to which they ultimately belong.

Furthermore, radio stations are still allowed to accept compensation for traditional advertisements. It's understood that even though the stations are utilizing a public good, such activity still requires funding. As such, it's permitted that the run paid advertisements during their programming. However, it's just not permitted for them to subvert the "serving the public" obligation (i.e. playing music) with that programming being driven by money.

Finally, blogs aren't a closed market. Any idiot can throw up a webserver and jump into the fray. There are two privileges that the "popular" blogger enjoys: 1) More bandwidth (as they've presumably invested in better hosting as part of their growth) and 2) More eyeballs. Neither one of these is out of reach a new entry into the market. While some sites (such as Slashdot) enjoy part of their success from being the first on the field, there's no intrinsic factors in the medium that prevent newcomers from one day achieving comparable success.

So overall, it's just plain old product placement. Purists may be upset with it (and may question the artistic integrity of the blogger over it), but there's no wrongdoing here barring future potential misconduct on the part of a blogger (such as lying about the product or utilizing a blog server that prohibits commercial content).

But...

[Anonymous Coward]

... the question all of us SHOULD be asking is:

Why does Raging Cow come in bottles?

Oh, wait. That doesn't work...

Cycle

[pizza_milkshake]

Ah, it's a new cycle. Suddenly there's a fresh new thing, blogs (which i never got anyways... how is posting stuff to a website different than what we were doing before blogs were big? but that's its own post). blogs are hip and cool and edgy, because people talk about anything and everything, from the mundane to the extraordinary. from work to movies to politics to sex.

there are no boundaries, etc etc. some of these bloggers start to get extremely popular -- popular enough for big companies to notice. an untapped market! there are tens of thousands of blogs and millions of regular readers. the 10 most popular blogs get more traffic than some daily newspapers. the people who write these things are influential, because the readers can identify with them and their daily struggle/musings/etc.

so now the marketers recruit the bloggers and pay them to endorse their product. it seems great at first -- we can have edgy *and* corporate messages. but then someone goes too far. they talk politics or say something in very poor taste and the company's lawyers get worried that they will be identified as promoting this kind of thought/talk/ideology. not good for the company's image, which said company spends $10s of millions promoting each year.

the company implements one tiny rule. and then another slip-up, and another rule, etc etc.

now instead of a "stream of consciousness public journal" you have what amounts to be a person being paid by a company to endorse their product and not talk about "bad things" and it ceases to become what made it so popular in the first place and blogs join other less-exciting media channels like radio, tv, and the pre-previews at the movies.

ad Nauseam

[Jonny Ringo]

check the dialy show online's clips with Steve Carell here:

http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshow withjonstewart/videos_corr.jhtml?p=carell

click on all the ad nauseam clips to laugh and fully understand the evil that is advertising :-)

and in other news

[British]

Pfeizer will be teaming up with LiveJournal.com to test out new antidepressants for various teens. Results from the new antidepressants can be measured by the "Current mood" feature pesent on most livejournal entries.

Now we know why they advertised on FARK.COM!!!

[BenJeremy]

Dr. Pepper bought advertising space from Fark.com a while back... I guess it was a test for future plans.

Gotta hand it to them for figuring out a way to use the internet to their advantage - I'm all in favor of it as long as they aren't spamming me.

Sign up Stile.

[supabeast!]

I would LOVE to see StileProject promoting Dr. Pepper.

Too bad the Goatse man is dead...

Left though education?

[TamMan2000]

in some cases so far left because of "brainwashing" by educational institutions.

I agree with your post, for the most part... But I strongly disagree with this statement. I am almost 25 (2 weeks from now...), I am very far to the left, but to blame it on my education is just wrong. I was a centrist who thought that the USA did the right thing most of the time, until I graduated and got into the real world. The only religiously oriented book that my (public) high school used for text was a book entitled 'the bible as literature', all of my economics classes (I took 4 of them, which is a lot for an engineer...) started with the premise that capitalism is superior.
How can the fact that I am an anti-(Iraq)-war, Athiest, borderline-socialist now, be blamed on my education then?

The anti-war left is getting censored in our educational system right now. You can call me a liberal all you want, and all the dirty names that come along with that one, I will take it with pride, but I got this way by opening my mind, not through my education...

Re:Left though education?

[adzoox]

First you should feel lucky that you live in a country that allows you say things like you did, allows political freedom and religious freedom - I suppose you do not want that for Iraq, which has neither.

If in any way you are saying that professors and teachers in K-12/college are not liberal minded - then think again. How can it be possible without strong political parents (which there are few and far between) to influence children? Children and young adults are being educated in a system that is bias and being bombarded by bias media. Most children don't understand our tax system, want socialized medicine, taxes on the productive people in society to be unfair and unbalanced, and see nothing wrong with behaviours of our last President.

The real world should teach you that you don't need intrusion into your life and assistance without earning it (wellfare, quotas, etc)

The real world should teach you that if you like to smoke (it's bad for you, but your choice) that you can without being taxed up the wazoo, that you can drive without paying gas tax up the wazoo, that you can have CAPITALIZED medicine so you don't have to go to another country like the Canadians do for healthcare, that you say what you want, believe what you want. That's the real world. The real world in a socialized, peacenik, moral devoid society led to the Sept 11th bombing - Al Queda had no regard for human life, told members they were going to heaven, and blamed it partially on the USA capitalistic nature, which if didn't exist would stop the world COLD.

Thank you for your opinion, most people post, as the author of the original post did; Anonymous Coward.

are those blogs real or...?

[Glass of Water]

colleagues,

the raging cow site, which looks like a blog, at least superficially, has links to six blogs on the lower right of the screen.

i take is these are supposed to be the "blogs" that are doing the advertizing? THESE ARE FAKES!!! look at them. they're all designed by the same person. they're all banal pap. they're not real!

am i just crazy? i think these were set up specifically for the purpose of this ad campaign. please tell me i'm nuts.

Re:are those blogs real or...?

[zztzed]

Nope. As best I can tell, most of them are real. This is judging by the registration dates... suchadork.net was registered at the end of July 2002; aboutagirl.org/com was registered in October '01. Sparkley.net was registered in October 2000. Kelleyrogers.com was registered in June '02, but using Godaddy's "private registration" thing which is somewhat fishy but plausible nonetheless. As a side note, she has a Raging Cow button on her webpage. ("The revolution will be homogenized" indeed.) Boymeetslife.com was registered in May 2002. Italianize.com was registered in September 2001.

Make of this what you will. If any of them are fake, it's probably the ones registered last year. The rest of them I'd give the benefit of the doubt.

Ewwwww

[pHsHsTK]

Raging Cow? mmmmmm give me the crab juice instead.

My first post about this subject was lame...

[dkone]

All I said was who cares. But then I went to the raging cow website and I realized that I care. Now that I have read a blog of a make believe cow, I am repentant on my cynicism. I never realized how cool a cow could be once it was personafied by the art of blogging. I am thinking of getting a cowectomy, or at least a botox injection.

Please wake up people and stop thinking up stupid advertising shit. Go look at a real cow sometime. They are big, smelly and stupid but they are anything but cool.

How Ironic

[skintigh2]

I ran a Dr Pepper rip off page (one of the first, not the best) and tried repeatedly to get any response from Dr Pepper. They had no interest in me whatsoever, and the one time I visited Texas and took the opportunity to take a photo of their sign, a SECURITY GUARD ran out and chased me away, as it was a SECURITY VIOLATION TO LOOK AT THE SIGN. What a bunch of assholes. Why the fuck do you put up a sign next to a fucking highway if you don't want people to look at it? And exactly how the fuck is looking at a fucking logo going to ,make a fucking difference to their "security?" (I am not aware if that guard's name was Rumsfeld)

Anyway, when I got tired of my collection and knew others were, too, I wondered if Dr Pepper would want it for their Dr Pepper Museum. Although they make it impossible to find a way to contact them, I eventually did, and was replied to with a form letter about where I can buy merchadise.

I felt loved.

I'm glad I've been so loyal.

Anyway, here is my sadly outdated page

blogging for dollars... ?

[djcatnip]

You're kidding me, right? attention 99.9% of the world, nobody reads your blog! people don't even have the capacity to listen to anything but what clearchannel tells you to,jeesh.

and I even have my own blog... Nobody reads it but my brother.

Simulated Teen Scene

[yintercept]

I don't know why they are bothering to pay people to blog for the Product. You would think they could simply create a simulated teen with a random text generator. All that really matters is that the blog adds to the Google Rank and bumps up search results.

Obligatory Futurama quote...

[taernim]

Leela: "Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?"

Fry: "Well sure, but not in our dreams! Only on tv and radio...and in magazines...and movies. And at ball games, on buses, and milk cartons, and t-shirts, and bananas, and written on the sky. But not in dreams! No sirree."

What is this product?

[complexmath]

I spent 5 minutes browsing ragingcow.com and all I've learned is that someone has spent an inprdinate amount of time writing a blog using a cow persona. I have no interest in returning to the site, reading what's on the site, or indeed, finding out why someone is pretending to be a cow in the first place. What an incredibly lame marketing ploy.

What's the difference?

[ccnull]

99% of blogs exist solely to promote their creators and their works -- I know that's what mine is for, he said with no trace of irony. If anything, this just gives people a chance to stop droning on and on about themselves for a second. Seriously... I think the blog community is nifty, but honestly I'll be glad for the break from navel-gazing.

PS Anyone need a plug? Paypal me...

The importance of hyping stealth marketing.

[The Babbler]

Nothing is cuter than an MBA putting together a "viral" marketing plan, and then holding a press conference about it. A. Spokesman has seen this before. http://www.corporatebabble.com/comics.jsp?catid=19 &contid=51

Re:Astroturfing through slashdot posts?

[version5]

> so far left because of "brainwashing" by educational institutions.

There's quite a few people who come on campus where I go to school with this attitude, I guess sent by some kind of conservative organization or talk show host or something. Anyway, if you know any of these people, groups or talk show hosts, please ask them to stop sending their people! I promise, almost none of the students are godless communists, OK, and we ignore the ones that are.

Conservatives delight in painting a dark picture of impressionable 18-year olds, away from the ideological guidance of their homes, families and churches, fresh prey for the (Democratic) professors driven mad by godlessness, liberalism and feminism, and while radio hosts and pundits patronize us, the truth is somewhat different. Its quite true that most professors are left of center, no-one denies that, but do you think we, the students, actually care? Do we spring forth from the suburbs with our eyes and minds wide open, easily manipulated by the professors into rejecting God and country? Heck, no. Here's a reality check that you can cash at your local bank: No-one cares about the professors, or their politics. We hardly care about politics at all, unless it has to do with raising the cost of tuition. Students, on the whole, have zero interest in the opinions of their professors, or indeed, the content of the course. Students have two interests: Get the degree and get out and start making money. Learning, studying, rejecting Christianity, becoming a communist, thinking heavily about politics is not high on the agenda (but getting high is). The professors can say what they want, the only thing that matters to the students is what they say about the grades.

In summary, please stop sending your people on campus. Its very irritating and patronizing, especially since its obvious that these people are pretty out of touch. Thank you.

Now, I have to go to class. I think today we are drawing pentagrams and hammers-and-sickles on the floor in goat's blood, and its going to be on the final, so I can't miss it.

We're helping plug the Good Doctor as we *speak*..

[Aropax20]

Has anyone stopped to think how this article is giving Dr Pepper a really thorough promotion? I mean, how many times has the product in question been mentioned in this article on /. so far? I heard a theory once that if J. Random Consumer is confronted with a name 7 times in quick succession, it'll stick!

I don't drink the stuff, but I can guarantee I'll be thinking about it all day *grimace*

Now there's an interesting way to advertise - get your product made the subject of a /. story... we've been had!

Fly, my pretties! Storm those blogs and slashdot them to hell and back!!

Advertisers over here!

[Shawn Baumgartner]

Hey, I can be bought. Willing to help advertise your beer and hookers, compensated only by product. Both must be fresh on delivery, one hot and one cold, you figure out which is which. Act now before I get drunk and laid and lose interest.

Re:Astroturfing through slashdot posts?

[Billly Gates]

They are also anti microsoft biased.

I despise Microsofts bussiness practices and think they are assh*les but dam they do make some great products.

....ducks

Seriously, Windows is a piece of crap but Visual Basic Enterpise edition is great that its such a time saver but anything remotly pro vb is modded down as flamebait. I do not understand why slashdotters hate it. In the bussiness world outside the age of most slashdotters the motto is time=money and integration is key. Microsoft is successfull because everything is glueable in languages like VB or ole or dcom/com++. Bussinesses do not care about hype or what looks cool but what gets the work done.

Visual Basic is so powerfull its even used to track orders on fed-ex. The back processing is still done on mainframe but the local ordering processing engine is written in vb and it handles a quarter million hits a day!

I find anything not pro linux = flamebait. Even if its pro solaris or other unix. Its like a cult.

Semi-existence of Bryon

[3ryon]

I don't know if any of you remember my site but I was one of the original bloggers. Anyway, sometime in ~1996 Intel took notice of my site and decided to make me a "beta user" of their new web cam. They asked nothing in return, but it was obvious that they were hoping to get a mention on my page (it was pretty popular...about 5,000 readers at its peak...remember this was the mid-90's). So, what I'm saying is that this is nothing new.

Does advertising work?

[Merk]

This may be the wrong place to ask this question since Slashdot is mostly computer geeks and not marketing geeks, but I'll try anyhow:

Has there ever been a study that shows conclusively that advertising works?

I ask this question because I know that there are times when it doesn't work. My dad used to work for the local phone company in an economics position. At one point a study came across his desk that said that in studies the phone company had done, the rate of advertising for long distance services had absolutely no effect on the rate of long distance calls. But did they stop advertising? No! His take on this was that advertising was so ingrained in the corporate culture that nobody was willing to get rid of it, even if it didn't work.

Now this is one study of one service offered by a local monopoly so it's not anything I'd use to generalize, but I sure found it interesting. Here was a huge company that had seen a study saying that their advertising had no effect but they still kept advertising.

I just wonder how much of advertising is based on sound science. I would imagine that there are situations where advertising does work. If people are unaware of a product, advertising can announce its existence. Another one I'm sure works is advertising sales or discounts. Again, informing a potential consumer of a fact that might change their mind about buying a product. But what about advertising for established brands? If Coke stopped advertising altogether, how much of an effect would it have on their bottom line? Do the costs of their ads pay for themselves in increased sales?

I would love to see fewer ads. I already use an ad blocking proxy so I miss most of the ones on the web, but I still see commercials, billboards, magazine ads, and all kinds of other obnoxious things every day. Wouldn't it be great if someone could prove that most of these ads just don't work? I'd even be happier if they were replaced by more effective, informative ads. I just always have the impression that ads are chosen because the people with the advertising budget like them, not because anybody can show what effect they'll have on sales. Maybe I'm wrong?

bloggers positive about something????!!!

[asscroft]

They're expecting teens/early 20s people to be positive about something? get off. I can't buy it. All I see are bloggers bitchin and whining unless it's about pr0n. I think Dr. Pepper would be better off paying them to diss their competition. THat's a natural fit for people this age. Then agian, maybe that's my generation (mid 20s). Maybe early 20s are happy and shit. Maybe they aren't cynical bastards full of pessimism. I doubt it ;-).

Don't you think this is part of their plan?

[maxoutrocketmail.com]

Come on, guys (and girls)...

A couple of bloggers wouldn't have that much influence on the community as a whole. But it is a low risk way of dipping their toe into another advertising medium.

In any event, it would seem like any savvy marketer would prefer to leak "news" of astroturfing so that a big discussion is kicked off. And seeing all the coverage (including here) that came of it, it has worked.

Oh - I read about this yesterday and happened across them at 7-11 today. I bought the Pina Colada Chaos. It tastes like watered down milk with some sweetener. Nothing I care for, but maybe the under 20 crowd wants watery sweet milk.

Re:Don't you think this is part of their plan?

[Paranoid Cheese Sand]

Blogging is very overrated by the mass media. Every single (printed) story I've read on it heralds it as a revolution in reporting and acts like it's going to be the dominant way people get information very soon; when you get down to it it's just a million people with agendas bitching about stuff for their friends to read. I don't think that media ignorance of technology alone is enough to explain this, so the question in my mind is, why does the media hype blogging so? What stock could the mass media possibly have in the success or stagnation (as long as there are things to bitch about and people to run the sites it won't die) of blogging?

I don't "get" blogging.

[LazyBoy]

Why is anyone reading anyone else's daily adventures?
Seems worse than reality TV (which I hate). Ugh.

Sponsored Slashdot Comments

[ruzel]

I've always thought that Slashdot (or any other slash site) could make some money by having "sponsored" comments. Companies could list themselves as being available to be sponsored in comments. When a user posts a comment and marks it as a candidate for sponsorship (presumably by choosing a sponsor from a list), then the company gets emailed the post and dis/approves. For every comment they approve, they pay Slashdot some amount of money that could be split with the poster -- or maybe some amount of money towards a subscription.

The comment would get posted as sponsored so that purists can filter them out. I think it would be generally good for software and web site reviews/comments.

The bullshit thing about advertising is that companies can say whatever they want without backing it up, which means most of us have become very cynical about advertising -- and advertising in turn has become little more than an "awareness" tool. But commentary from users is usually pretty helpful (as long as it's not vague). Just look at the Switch campaign for Apple for a good example.
__________________________

How many ways has Clear Channel reached you today?

[Animats]

That's the Clear Channel slogan. "How many ways has Clear Channel reached you today?". Really.

Then again, they just reported a loss of $16 billion for the last 9 months. They may be overextended.