Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Marketers are always tempted to push the envelop and believe me we’ve recommended some pretty crazy ideas over the last ten years at Renegade. But there is a line that when crossed breaks the bonds of trust between brand and consumer. Trust is everything when it comes to brands. Without trust, premium prices are impossible, repeat purchase unlikely and consumer satisfaction is a pipe dream.
A few years ago SONY crossed the line (as far as I’m concerned) creating a “stealth marketing” campaign by having brand ambassadors pose as a real people in bars to sample their SONY Erikson phones. So it is no surprise to me that SONY was recently caught underwriting a fake blog or “flog.” According to MediaPost “the blog, alliwantforxmasisapsp.com, was supposedly authored by an amateur hip-hop artist ‘Charlie’ — whose cousin, ‘Pete,’ craved a PSP under the tree.” Once this blog was exposed as a flog (industry blog DigitalBattle.com wrote a lot about this), SONY issued a release that noted it was developed as a “humorous site” and have “added a posting that provides clarification to consumers visiting the site.” The blog Digital Battle has more coverage on this topic.
Is this really a big deal? Should we be concerned that one of the largest CE brands in the world has twice tried to trick the consumer into engaging with them? On one hand, since Panasonic is one of my clients, I’m thrilled that SONY has undermined the trust they have built up over the years and maybe more people will chose Panasonic over SONY. On the other hand, when one marketer tries to pull a fast one, it hurts our whole profession. Ironically, in both of SONY’s marketing transgressions, all they would have had to do is reveal their connection upfront and the consumer would have responded equally well. When it comes to Marketing for Good, honesty is indeed the best policy.
Update 12/17: Looks like SONY took the blog down;-) Will keep you posted.