Blogging brands at the hotdog stand

Monday, September 14, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories: Media, Technology | Tags: technology, FT, Twitter, fashion, IFA, Berlin, Netbook, Scott Schuman, Ralph Lauren, 3-D home cinema, Dell, The Sartorialist, pay-per-click, The Times, Sascha Pallenberg, Samsung, consumer technology, Gap, Blogging

Berlin’s brand ‘n’ blog gateway opened to a flood of technology innovation last week. The annual IFA, one of the world’s largest tech exhibitions, served as the launch pad for streams of new consumer devices, not least of which is the 3-D home cinema experience. At the hotdog stands, the buzz was all about Samsung’s giant exhibition space, the heart of which was a thirty metre tall entertainment dome. It was all very sci-fi, and I’m still not sure if there was a point to it, other than to elicit hundreds of thousands of “Wow” sounds from visitors, and to create a buzz, around the hotdog stands.

If Samsung had poetry in its hi-tech heart, its only human touch was a cascade of elegant models in evening wear, floating occasionally, with poise, to the left or right of the dome. So, for ‘elegant model’ let’s interpret, say, ‘elegant model’ – and there we have it. Samsung and every other major technology manufacturer, was displaying a series of elegant new models. What to do about brand separation then?

Enter the bloggers. The smartest acts at dinner were the tech bloggers, dressed not in evening wear, though it was evening, but in designer scruff, somewhere between bargain bucket GAP, and urban chic Ralph Lauren. Even at this uber-cool product launch – with the best sushi I’ve had this year – all the corporate executives looked like all the other corporate executives; I’m guessing the English, Dutch, German, Italians and Japanese don’t all use the same tailor, which perhaps indicates a sense of corporate compliance is stifling brand innovation too. The bloggers, journalists, corporate executives all broke bread with ease; bloggers on a par with the well-honed machines of commerce and global publishing - but that is to be modest on their behalf.

Prolific blogging has more impact in niche markets than newspaper publishing, and technology marketers now know it. One bad review from a top-level blogger is enough to kill a new model production cycle. At a moment when most extra-ordinary purchases are first researched on the Web, product reviews matter. A blogger at the event had leaked the 2009 Netbook strategy for one of the world’s leading brands, in February, before it had a chance to impact. How terrible you say, how terrible! Well, maybe.

This same blogger confessed that he didn’t know if the strategy was deliberately leaked to generate interest in the brand, or whether it was leaked by an employee. Journalists and business have long had a tough balancing act to manage: print the story and we don’t advertise; or, don’t print the story and we don’t advertise; tell the truth and we don’t advertise… Today, bloggers face the same dilemma.

Another blogger made a short, self-stylised video documentary about how to make a USB stick – that’s how niche this marketing is. The video was viewed 250,000 times within one week. Blogging isn’t small time. The cost of making and distributing the video? How much is a train ticket, double-tall latter and muffin? The cost of advertising in The Times technology section? Tens of thousands of pounds.

In New York, ‘The Sartorialist’, blogger, Scott Schuman, is launching a pop-up shop inside Barney’s Manhattan department store. Schuman’s fame and increasing fortune comes from his globally followed fashion blog. Simply, he photographs well-dressed people in the street, throughout the world, and he posts the photo, plus some comment, on his blog. His blog gets around 140,000 unique visits a day.

Monetizing this virtual footfall has been the most challenging aspect of blogging. Aside from pay-per-click adverts and variants on this theme, bloggers often labour for love. Tech blogs are increasingly gaining revenue by becoming resellers of products within their sector. The challenge is maintaining a reputation for independence and unique comment, while taking a pay cheque from the supplier being endorsed.

Twitter doesn’t monetize easily, but the FT has reported Dell generating more than $2m in revenue with the use of Twitter alerts. What is clear from current blog marketing trends is that the medium remains in its infancy. An absence of consistency of style, or return, deters many manufacturers and service providers from integrating blogs within a concrete marketing strategy.

Crucially, readers must feel included, and when they do, they contribute, and big news gets leaked. Leaking and defending will become core marketing skills; these are the skills of the advocate, of the courtroom. In the end, the psychology is simple, we want to belong, to be part of the tribe, and yet, to retain a sense of individuality. Blogging is not a new phenomenon, it is a brand extension, of branding – it’s the buzz at the hotdog stand.

Must Read:

The New Wave of Luxury Retailers – FT Article
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3877c75a-9da1-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Bloggers:

The Sartorialist:
http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

Sascha Pallenberg
http://twitter.com/sascha_P

Events:

IFA Berlin:
http://www.ifa-berlin.com/