Posted by Peter Himler on 24th August 2006
(Sure sounds like a Michael Douglas or Richard Gere movie.) Some months ago, Weber-Shandwick’s Robert Ricci spoke out against deceptive viral and word-of-mouth marketing tactics. This blog also has weighed in
on the subject from time to time.
In fact, I recently joined PR bloggers Paull Young/Trevor Cook’s effort to end the nefarious industry practice known as astroturfing. Others lent their names to the movement, including Cluetrain Manifesto co-author David Weinberger.
Last week, we learned of a hugely successful viral marketing campaign to promote a Court TV program. The promotion combined outdoor advertising and a weblog written by someone named “Emily.”
“The billboard created interest… A booking agent from ‘Good Morning America’ sent an e-mail to Emily inviting her on the show. British Glamour wanted to make her the subject of a feature article…”
After some digging, it was learned that there is no Emily and the entire effort was fabricated to attain the elusive Holy Grail of marketing — viral buzz. For some, or rather, many in our line of work, the Court TV ploy will be viewed as a grand success.
“The good news is that even after the ruse was discovered, people visited the Emily blog, pushing it to one million hits by the end of Thursday…Court TV’s marketing group liked the idea so much that they made it a large part of the campaign.”
For others (like me), it’s just one big, admittedly clever, consumer deception.
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Posted by Peter Himler on 11th August 2006
Yesterday, Auburn University finally took action against two tenured professors accused of grade inflation for athlete-students.
The university’s “directed-reading courses” saw students, mainly athletes, forego formal classes to work directly with professors. The draw: less rigorous academic standards and better grades. The practice came to light in a New York Times investigative piece (TimesSelect) last month titled “Top Grades and No Class Time for Auburn Players.”
While the two professors were forced to resign, their tenure will keep them on as salaried employees. More significant was the seemingly lack of contrition or reasonable assignment of blame by Auburn interim president Ed Richardson:
“This is clearly an academic problem,” Richardson said Thursday during a news conference in the lobby of the school’s administration building. “Athletics is a minor player in an academic issue. Having said that, this is a matter of great concern to this administration.”
Also absent, from this blogger’s perspective, is any mention of this national story unfolding in his midst from Auburn’s esteemed Marcom professor and
blogging pundit and protagonist Robert French. What’s what here, Robert?
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Posted by Peter Himler on 10th August 2006
As Bill Ford extols his company’s commitment to the environment in a pricey TV campaign, yesterday the company seems to have contradicted Mr. Ford’s CSR marketing message. It announced that it planned to build two gas-guzzling muscle cars: a 325-HP Shelby GT and a big luxury car, the Lincoln MKS.
Of course, this yin-yang approach to brand rebuilding wasn’t lost on The New York Times or others following yesterday’s announcement. To explain, Ford’s VP for North American sales said:
“We do have great car products; we do have great fuel performance.”
This prompted one analyst to quip:
“It is a mistake and it’s very disappointing,” said John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Strategic Advisers in New York. “I just think it shows that Detroit still has a business model predicated on low energy prices.”
Can the nation’s #2 automaker successfully tout its green-ness, while building decidedly ungreen cars? Let’s watch and see.
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