MarketingVOX: The announcement of the iPhone earlier this month provided media-buying agencies with the ultimate case study on how internet commentators such as bloggers can affect the fortunes of a big consumer product launch, in advance of any conventional marketing spend, writes The Financial Times.
According to a Universal McCann study, reviewing products/giving feedback is the second-most popular web activity. Experts have long said endorsement or criticism of brands by a third party can influence shoppers? behavior more directly than conventional, paid marketing. Accordingly, marketers are interested in tracking and reaching key influentials in the blogosphere and are using tools like Technorati to measure public opinion and are also investing in their own systems for doing so.
Initiative Futures Worldwide used a specialist technology partner to assess bloggers’ views about the iPhone, finding that the web was more polarized than the mainstream media’s?coverage. Oline views were positive at first, but people quickly began wondering. For instance, they disliked both that Apple would sell the phone only through one carrier (Cingular) and the hefty price.
Nevertheless, Isobar’s Dan Calladine says Apple may choose to continue to leak product shots and then send out the actual product to a select number of influencers – much the same way a film would keep buzz going by releasing trailers and movie stills.
Related stories:
- Blogosphere Abuzz about K-Fed in Nationwide Super Bowl Ad
- Forrester Attempts to Measure the ROI of Corporate Blogging
- Danny Sullivan: ‘Social Media Engines’ Next Big Search Thing
- Execs: iPhone Could Transform Mobile Marketing
- Jobs Unveils Dreamy iPhone & Apple TV at Macworld
- Umbria Offers Blog Lists to Marketers
