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martyp · 04-30-2007

Ahhhh, now therein lies the rub! In days gone by, a contest winner won in relative obscurity... the point of sponsoring a contest was to get lots and lots of people to take notice of a particular brand. Today, there's definately still that element, but with a twist...

THE WINNER IS NO LONGER OBSCURE!

This board is an ideal example. Let's say my company hosts a contest and a winner is drawn BUT that contest was held only for members of a certain bargain-hunter forum. Now, the winner will happily proclaim they've won and all the 1000+ members of the forum will know a) that winning with company KoR is possible, b) that company KoR is real and fun and perhaps worth trusting. EXCEPT... and here's where we stick our necks out, once the prize is received, the winner in an ideal marketing world will log in to the forum and proclaim "I got my prize and it rules!", but they could just as easily claim "The prize sucks" and ruin your whole approach.

That, in a nutshell, is what I think is what many e-marketers are overlooking (but I could be naive). In the past, brands sponsored sports teams hoping to convert the fans into consumers. In this day of digital social networking, why not sponsor social networks, like this one, and try to win their trust?

I think I've rambled a bit, sorry, but I hope I've not been incoherent. The neat thing about a brand/sponsor/network approach is that every now and again the the brand representative will find himself genuinely enjoying the connection he's forming with the network. Cheers. :cool:

04-30-2007	#8
martyp Junior Beaver Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Montreal Posts: 63 Threads: 41 Thanks: 7 Thanked 76 Times in 52 Posts	Ahhhh, now therein lies the rub! In days gone by, a contest winner won in relative obscurity... the point of sponsoring a contest was to get lots and lots of people to take notice of a particular brand. Today, there's definately still that element, but with a twist... THE WINNER IS NO LONGER OBSCURE! This board is an ideal example. Let's say my company hosts a contest and a winner is drawn BUT that contest was held only for members of a certain bargain-hunter forum. Now, the winner will happily proclaim they've won and all the 1000+ members of the forum will know a) that winning with company KoR is possible, b) that company KoR is real and fun and perhaps worth trusting. EXCEPT... and here's where we stick our necks out, once the prize is received, the winner in an ideal marketing world will log in to the forum and proclaim "I got my prize and it rules!", but they could just as easily claim "The prize sucks" and ruin your whole approach. That, in a nutshell, is what I think is what many e-marketers are overlooking (but I could be naive). In the past, brands sponsored sports teams hoping to convert the fans into consumers. In this day of digital social networking, why not sponsor social networks, like this one, and try to win their trust? I think I've rambled a bit, sorry, but I hope I've not been incoherent. The neat thing about a brand/sponsor/network approach is that every now and again the the brand representative will find himself genuinely enjoying the connection he's forming with the network. Cheers. :cool: __________________ Marty P., KingOfRocks.com Jewellery [URL="http://kingofrocks.com/scripts/default.asp"]What's our Jewellery [I]Steal of the Day[/I]?[/URL]