On the intro to this linkblog, I wrote:
I'm enjoying reading Seth's new book, All Marketers Are Liars. It's about stories. Only problem is it's still all about the corporation's story. Where are the customers' stories? MSM is starting to glimpse the value in real people - the guys and gals on the other side of the newspaper print or television box - telling their own stories.
Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion announces what looks like an excellent example of what I'm talking about (see also Wall St Journal's "Corporate Marketers Try Out Blogs"):
At CooperKatz we believe one of the most effective forms of marketing is peer-to-peer/citizen marketing. What better way to evangelize the benefits of scootering than empowering existing customers to tell prospective scooterati why Vespa rocks?
Vespa is in the fortunate position of having thousands of very expressive online customer evangelists. Given this, CooperKatz and Piaggio USA decided to try something unique. In the spirit of Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell's breakthrough book, Creating Customer Evangelists, we're going to give four lucky Vespa owners a voice. Together we're launching two lifestyle blogs this summer that will be written by Vespa customers. One will focus on urban mobility, while the other will be on the journey we call life - how to get from point A to point B. More details are in the call for Vespa bloggers.
Congrats!
UPDATE: Hmmm up way too late and didn't catch this, but here's information on the WITFM (what's in it for me) angle for the Vespa bloggers from the FAQ. This isn't secret info - keeping up a blog is a bigtime time-consumer:
What will the bloggers receive in return for their service?
In return for their services, Vespa bloggers will get an early look at Vespa products and services, passes to Vespa events as well as Vespa accessory merchandise and online/media exposure. Vespa is not paying for any of the bloggers to blog, nor is it trying to influence them on content. These are simply perks for blogging for Vespa.
Good comment from Marion Page on Steve's post:
However, I think that seeking independent bloggers who won't be paid is a mistake. Personally, I think that an advertising firm giving away the actually task of blogging is equivalent to Yahoo giving away search to Google.
I think it is best to just get rid of this "independent blogger" concept "up front", from the "git go". No one is ever going to believe that someone officially blogging on behalf of a product or a company is independent. So, why waste time on this issue?
As far as seeking to become an official blogger for Vespa, I can make [more] money by just creating my own scooter blog and putting Adsense ads on it. Other than providing some blogger with the opportunity to make himself/herself so valuable to Vespa that Vespa doesn't need Micropersuasion, I don't see what appeal the "offical Vespa blogger" designation holds.
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