“New Product Development”, a paper by Columbia’s very own Olivier Toubia, addresses the product launch problem by framing launch strategy as a choice between two approaches: traditional and non-traditional.
Traditional marketing includes radio and television commercials, billboards, internet advertisements, etc. Non-traditional marketing includes product placement, branded entertainment (Burger King’s subservient chicken – you’ve got to check this out . . . so weird / creepy), and of course, buzz marketing.
Buzz / Viral Marketing can be thought of intentional word-of-mouth marketing. In other words, individuals’ existing social networks are leveraged in order to promote a product or brand. There is an obvious potential for conflicts of interest in this strategy, most humorsly addressed, I believe, in this 2005 Onion Article on the subject. Simply put, how can I actually trust your opinion on this soda if Pepsi is paying you to like it?
Social media is clearly a useful tool for buzz marketers, but how is it being used and what are the results? A few sites (referenced by Prof. Toubia in the paper) are briefly reviewed below:
A self-described forum for women to share opinions on products they care about. Members provide detailed information on tastes and preferences, receive free products, test them, establish credibility through their reviews, and are presumably invited to test more products the more credible they become.
The site seems to have rated a few hundred products, and most ratings are either 4 or 5 out of 5 stars . . . hmm . . .bias perhaps? Some of the ratings have enough fluff to make a sandwich, but I suppose the real opportunity comes from the surveys sent to the manufacturers and not the public ratings as I doubt many shoppers use the site to actually evaluate products.
A bit weird this one. It’s owned by Proctor and Gamble and aims to use the latest in cognitive science to influence word-of-mouth marketing campaigns. Claims to have an army of 500,000 moms who are ready and eager to market your product. It’s not as user-driven as SheSpeaks and not entirely clear how one joins the mom-army.
Just signed up. Username “Riptide”. Site seems targeted to a wider demographic than either Tremor or SheSpeaks and does the best job integrating Facebook with the platform. I sign in using my Facebook id and presumably my Buzz marketing posts go directly to my wall. I like the survey they made me fill out to join. First question was, “Do you like visiting Casinos and gambling”, I guess we see who some of their best clients are . . .
In summary, these are cool ideas and to some extent I’m surprised I haven’t seen more flagrant product placement on my friend’s Facebook pages. Maybe that’s the downside to all this. Has advertising made as cynical enough to doubt even seemingly sincere advocacy of any product? That said, let me tell you about this great toothpaste I just found . . .
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