Comments on: What the Cool Kids Can Teach Us About Selling Out

By: How to Use Blog Lists for Your Social Media Strategy - Danny Brown

How to Use Blog Lists for Your Social Media Strategy - Danny Brown — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:37:34 +0000

[...] they’d be interested in taking part. Note the “taking part” description – don’t try and force them to be who they’re not. Keep it honest and [...]

By: websuccessdiva

websuccessdiva — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:40:05 +0000

Great point Danny, Gen Y are worth it and more so than any other group, in my opinion. They are a powerfully vocal group that will not hesitate to help or hurt a company – smart companies don't take their power for granted

By: Danny Brown

Danny Brown — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:14:10 +0000

Great points, Judith and (like John), completely agree. It's the same as bloggers – anyone doing a review or taking part in a sponsored campaign should have final approval. Otherwise it becomes just another advertising outlet for the company, and not a viable outlet for the audience.

By: judith

judith — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:12:03 +0000

thanks! and of course, the companies wouldnt be going to them if they werent the content creators. the value in picking specific social media users is their influence. however, that influence is only as good as their own personality/content. people follow them and listen to them based on who they are. thats the biggest mistake that sanyo ended up making. instead of capitalizing on the influence of social media (level of trust/entertainment/relationship/content) they were pretending that alex was nbc or cbs.

By: johnhaydon

johnhaydon — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:07:02 +0000

Judith – I totally agree with what you said: “i think its also important that the youtuber/twitterer have complete creative control”. They *are* content creators in the first place – right?

By: johnhaydon

johnhaydon — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:04:42 +0000

The problem with Sanyo (at least in this instance) is that they don't have the word “integrity” mentioned within their corporate values – while bloggers (at least the ones I know) have very high levels of integrity. They also demonstrated a lack of understanding about blog culture by not having a *dialog* with Alex.

Alex – 2
Sanyo – 0

By: jackieadkins3

jackieadkins3 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:02:52 +0000

First, I'd say Sanyo missed out since it seemed like Alex was willing to work with them to find some common ground and making it work. Ultimately probably turning off Alex and all of his viewers to their brand.

Out of the two, I think Ford definitely has a better grasp of utilizing Gen Y and the “YouTube Generation,” but I think it's definitely still an area where companies will have to kind of test the waters for a while to see what is generally accepted as “kosher” in the space.

As a consumer, I would be much more open to something like this than “sponsored tweets” and blatant advertisements like this. I think the key is for companies to not just convince people to put their product in a video or talk about it for the financial incentive, but to genuinely create brand evangelists that really are passionate about your product (which Kristina definitely sounded passionate about the Ford Fiesta). How you can do this…is a whole other question

By: judith

judith — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:55:38 +0000

ugh. the idea of inserting a commercial into a youtube video is nauseating. it also shows that the company that wanted this has no idea or clue about social media in general.
as for product placement and advertisement and “selling out” – as long as the youtuber or twitterer is up front about their connection, i think making a video discussing the experience works the best. after all, in social media we create relationships. hearing a review from someone you have a relationship with, someone you trust is much more effective than one of those “im not an actor” commercials on tv.

that said, i think its also important that the youtuber/twitterer have complete creative control, and the ability to be honest about any flaws in the product, otherwise its not an honest review, and it is selling out. this honestly would eventually lead to brands improving their products based on user experience, which is just better for everyone.

By: GreenStar

GreenStar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:44:10 +0000

I didn't even think they should be in a different order, I just wanted to watch the video of the company who failed first. haha But yeah, they look better in this order.

I would assume that the success rate would be a lot better for FORD than for SANYO. Assuming the videos are getting the same amount of views, from the same general audience – I see the audience liking the non-direct advertisements better (even if they don't know it's an advertisement – and in this case, the company did their advertising job VERY well)

By: Danny Brown

Danny Brown — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:40:49 +0000

Ha, good point – maybe I should have had the videos in order? I've updated the post

I agree, both videos show each user has a grasp on how we want to be treated as customers, and how two companies approached it very differently. Be interesting to see success rates of each.