Oops, not exactly a great way to start the new year. In an effort to get the "influentials" buzzing about the new Vista operating system, Edelman, the PR and supposed expert word-of-mouth marketing agency operating on behalf of MSFT, sent out about 90 computers loaded up new Vista operating system to some well known and regarded bloggers, and no unfortunately, I was not one of them. Which is really too bad because MSFT and Edelman spared no expense sending out top of the line $2,000+ Acer Ferrari laptops. The not so good news was the significant backlash some of the well known bloggers received from their loyal readers. I think there are two parts to this story. First, for several in the digerati community, just bringing up the name Edelman lately is probably not a good idea (remember the fake Wal-Mart blog?). Keeping that in mind, as talented as the participating bloggers are, I am guessing that they don't have much experience in the whole concept of word-of-mouth-driven marketing. Certainly not their fault, but I am sure a few of them are pretty pissed off right now and receiving such negative criticism from their audience...sure some of them are so upset they probably wish they never accepted the laptop and the terms (which have not been released as of yet) associated with it. I still go back to my American Idol example. Coke, Ford and Cingular (originally AT&T Wireless) have been product placement fixtures since day one on American Idol, we know it, their target audience knows it and everyone is comfortable with it. I believe it is a disservice to the audience to execute a word of mouth type program using un-tested platforms like some of tech blogs that have no operating experience in product placement. I wonder if Edelman is re-thinking their WOM strategy?
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