Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Samsung Offered StackOverflow Users $500 For "Organic" Publicity

Posted by timothy on from the no-pesticide-kills-fllu dept.

First time accepted submitter rjmarvin writes "Digital marketing company FLLU, hired by Samsung to promote SSAC, offered $500 to StackOverflow users to pose 'casual and organic' questions over the next month about the 2013 Challenge. Android developer Delyan Kratunov turned them down, then posted the whole exchange on his blog. Outrage, of course, ensued." Sorry, no bounty on the comments below.

13 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. You know what this reminds me of? by Seumas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dice.

  2. Facebook does it, Slashdot does it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ads posing as content. Samsung probably felt left out.

    1. Re:Facebook does it, Slashdot does it by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Interesting

      he should just have kept the money.
      or just offered rounds of booze to the guys.

      like wtf were they supposed to be asking around anyways and why the hell on stack exchange? that would be like showing problems with it.

      OTOH this is brilliant marketing since now I know about the challenge. much higher publicity than some stupid stack exchange questions.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Facebook does it, Slashdot does it by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you delegate, YOU are responsible for the fuck-up. It's that simple. Doesn't matter whether it's CEO, employee, or contractor - Samsung have fucked up here.

      At least it wasn't outsourcing to the private sector by government. That's the worst thing to happen to modern Western society, as the tail's now permanently wagging the dog.

  3. Re:Samsung, Apple, Phhft by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apple uses religion, not money.

  4. Would've been terribly unsuccessful anyway by harvestsun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here is how it would have gone down:

    Question: "Need some feedback on the app I am about to enter for the Samsung Smart App Challenge." (yes, that is an actual quote from the email)
    Response: "Welcome to StackOverflow! Please read what this site is about, and "How to ask" before asking a question."

    Aaaaand... closed for off-topic within 60 seconds.

    StackOverflow has one of the most diligent communities I've ever seen. They wouldn't tolerate this shit.

    1. Re:Would've been terribly unsuccessful anyway by kylemonger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The scheme, discovery, and public outrage were probably all part of the plan from the beginning. Lots of people who had never heard of the contest now have heard of the contest. Samsung can ritually fire the marketer, and we can repeat this exercise again next year.

  5. Did he get the cash? by Groo+Wanderer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Given the publicity he gave Samsung, did they pay him the $500 in the end?

  6. Re:Tricky. I see what you did there. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I must admit, seeing this article made me go check out their site. They made this massive organic publicity through the Streisand effect.

    Hmm..

    I agree I too checked out their site. It indeed added value to my life and would recommend casually to a friend or fellow slash dot user to join me there

  7. Anyone know anything about SSAC? by Russ1642 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am about to enter for the Samsung Smart App Challenge. Anyone know have any experience with this?

  8. Not everything is about Apple. by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's hilarious to see an Android apologists like yourself struggle to tie this back to Apple somehow.

    How in any way is offering a review unit to someone who may write about a device with every reader knowing they got a review unit, the same as having technical people pretend they were naturally interested in Samsung on a pure technical site and not divulging they were paid to express interest? Can you honestly detect zero difference in the morality of open vs hidden action?

    I can imagine you would have quite a different message posted if the name of the company offering money to game technical sites was Apple and not Samsung.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  9. Re:Samsung, Apple, Phhft by grcumb · · Score: 3, Funny

    Samsung, Apple, Phhft. All the same

    How dare you compare Apple users to such crass, capitalistic attention whores!

    Sent from my iPhone

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  10. It's always a gamble, and may not pay off by Camael · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Either way, the old saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity" comes true, and some marketer who was called out is probably walking all the way to the bank.

    Not... necessarily. There is such a thing as bad publicity, as amply demonstrated by MS recently with regards to the XboxOne DRM and other issues. That bought them a lot of ill-will from their ex-fans. Sure, they did a 180, retracted their position and maybe clawed back some of their hard core fans. But everything they've been doing since is to make up for lost traction for their new console. Worse still, they publicly boosted their strongest competitor at a very crucial time, when the new consoles were being unveiled and the publicity machine was gearing up to create hype.

    Hell, it was basically win-win. If he wasn't found out, great, more entries. If he was called out, even more publicity. Either way, more people know about it and that was the entire point.

    Except... thats not the point. The point from a marketing perspective is to close sales for your client. There is no point spamming a million eyeballs if none of them are potential customers. Thats the reason why Google Adwords commands premium rates- because they can deliver ads to people who are most likely to buy the product (i.e. those searching for "ipad sale" etc).

    On this issue, there is no guarantee that this stunt will increase participation in the Samsung Smart App Contest. Those people checking it out may still go "meh" and pass on it.

    More importantly, if this thing blows up, it has the potential to damage Samsung's brand. Samsung is a billion dollar company and Samsung Smart App is in comparison a piddly portion of the whole. If however, Samsung gains a reputation for astroturfing, it could seriously damage the brand. Just look at what is happening to MS now, I have seen numerous posts supportive of MS products on many tech forums being derided as being from paid shills, and rightly so since they were outed. Once the brand is poisoned, it is extremely difficult to repair .