There’s an interesting post over at Valleywag that suggests that, frustrated by the lack of positive blogger response over the Zune, Microsoft’s buzz agency Edelman has decided it might be best to hit the old school journos. Valleywag says:
Microsoft’s marketers had entertained a fantasy: that the blogs, which increasingly determine buzz on products, would embrace it; the virtues of digital device would spread, virally, as people exchanged music with their friends; and a traditional press relations campaign, with a focus on tame business and national titles, was redundant.
After $100 million was spent on a marketing budget to promote the Zune music player, today it sits at just number 20 in Amazon’s music player chart. Someone at Microsoft should be kicking up a storm at their agency offices, especially at Edelman’s gaff.
It’s not hard to understand Edelman’s strategy - every PR agency in town seems to be trying to get bloggers to write about products and services. The International Herald Tribune carries an interesting article about how brands are apparently showering bloggers with gifts to get a mention on their sites - but our feeling is this has nothing to do with over-gifted bloggers.
One of the biggest errors in the strategy was that Edelman sent Zunes to the wrong bloggers. They sent it to tech folk like Om Malik and Robert Scoble. Om and Robert are very influential in their own technology fields - but they were the wrong bloggers to go after. Maybe by being so cosy to these folks in Seattle and San Francisco, Edelman misunderstood the real target of their campaign.
Two blogger genres were seriously overlooked…
Continued over at IF! (subscription required)
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
