We recently covered,No escaping from blog as a key trend for 2005. We also covered, the reach of the blogs in the modern world. David Kirkpatrick writes about a quote from legendary ad-man Steve Hayden, vice chairman of New York-based Ogilvy & Mather and quotes him as saying,"If you fudge or lie on a blog, you are biting the karmic weenie. The negative reaction will be so great that, whatever your intention was, it will be overwhelmed and crushed like a bug". For bloggers, Hayden's quote touched upon an underlying and not well-understood beauty of blogs: That their communal nature pushes them toward total honesty. Excerpts with edits and my comments added from David's article:
Hayden says, a growing number of consumers, turn to blogs to get the unvarnished scoop on products. Marketers can use blogs to their advantage, Hayden says, but he stresses that they have to cautiously tread into this new medium. Hayden, who oversees IBM's ad account at Ogilvy & Mather, says that the tech giant monitors blogs to find out what open-source software programmers think about the Linux operating system, which IBM supports. Here are some of his insights into how blogs are changing the relationship between consumers, corporations and advertisers:
• Blogs can serve as a trusted source.
• They can provide companies with reliable feedback
• They provide an outlet for happy and unhappy customers. .
• They can serve as a reality check. "Nobody has 100% positive information about any program, product or service. It simply isn’t possible". Blogs pay a role in filling this gap.
• They can help companies reach an influential audience. "What the bloggers say is pretty significant to us as a research tool. Many manufacturers check the blogs every day.. The blog commentary we got about the sincerity of IBM’s efforts in promoting linux just went on and on—it’s how we knew we were winning. It’s an example of mass advertising intended to reach a tiny but highly influential audience."
Microsoft, continues to break new ground. For instance, as of January 11, 1.5 million new bloggers had signed up on MSN Spaces, a self-publishing service launched in early December. And during the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates gave his first interview ever to a blog,the Gizmodo site. We earlier covered, Scobeleizer saying Executives Could Get Fired For Not Blogging. We also wrote recently only the PC received more attention than the blog during its early days.David concludes the piece by asking has your chief executive started blogging. Blogging is indeed inescapable and in the current convergent world, blogging shall only go from strength to strength.
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