Coca Cola is trying to figure out how to launch products through blogs
As can be learned from the recent Coca-Cola campaign on Portuguese blogs, Coca Cola’s current marketing strategy is as follows: Manipulate social media to work for you the same way classical media did in the old days. Create your campaign, send it to the media and pay for your advertising.
According to a recent TrendsSpotting research, Brands on UGC websites: The Coca-Cola case study, Coca-Cola, the world’s most successful offline brand has little online power and suffers from low presence on UGC sites.
Trying to work their way up on the social media ladder, Coca Cola cultivates a new breed of bloggers who believe that as long as they “follow” their inner truth – allowing brands to control their content is legit.
Although Coca Cola did succeed in bringing awareness to their new i9 product, the social media game is now much harder to play. Coca Cola cannot manipulate the blogsphere without being criticized and coined a ‘briber’.
Has Coca Cola anticipated that the greater buzz will come not from its new i9 features but from the fact that the company is well compensating bloggers?
Having said that, think it through-doesn’t bad reputation count?
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July 9th, 2008 at 4:14 am
I accidentally stumbled on this website and saw two “less than interesting” coke stories. YAWN…back to iGoogle. Get over it.
July 9th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I came here on purpose to read two ‘more than enlightening’ coke stories because iGoogle was kind of boring today YAWN). Before I got over it, I found that this item raises a few interesting questions:
1. What’s the validity of this form of advertising-isn’t Coca Cola simply getting bloggers to write a good review about their product and ‘paying’ them for it? Can’t any brand do that? What’s the point if the review is not genuine? Why not just openly BUY advertising space on the web?
2. Don’t you think a major brand such as coca cola would find a smarter way to take advantage of social networks for promotion purposes…? Paulo Coehlo certainly did http://tinyurl.com/6ejvn5
3. this story caused such an upheaval amongst bloggers-to rent or not to rent…? how can it be so insignificant if it created such a buzz in the blogosphere?
July 10th, 2008 at 6:12 am
I think people are over reacting to renting bloggers. Who really cares if they get perks to writing about a product? There isn’t a brand or product out there that doesn’t have something positive about its existence. Heck in today’s blog world bad write ups are just as good as good write ups if managed properly. It bothers me that everyone has to be so righteous about being yourself and telling the truth when you blog. There is fiction in books and false statements in the media today. How does this change in regards to the web? It doesn’t – so now I’m going back to my iGoogle, but everyone needs to chill and let bloggers get perks!!!!
July 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
This is new(s)? There are services out there that specifically pay bloggers for product reviews along any product lines. Music and video game bloggers get have been getting advance copies of their respective products for a long time now.