Grow your own grass

by Volker Weber

Last December I wrote about Viral Training Wheels. Lots of great feedback to a lame video that smelled a lot like astroturfing. Looks like it's the time of the year for another bullshit detection post.

Remember when IBM started the Lotus Knows campaign:

Things start off with a "Lotus Knows Jam" planned for the week of August 17th; from there, there will be opportunities for you to submit testimonials, videos, and more to contribute to the messages.

That was going to be a real grass roots campaign this time:

The key thing around this campaign is that IBM wants to engage the community. They want us to create videos, blog, tweet, and spread the message. They want partners to take the branding and apply it to their messages and own marketing. IBM is hoping to leverage our community - and work with us.

The turnout was "fantastic". They selected the best of the best and put them on a site mentioned in their ad campaign: lotusknows.com. If you browse through the site you will notice that many videos are by the same person:

zmood zmood
zmood zmood
zmood zmood
zmood zmood

Actually all of the good ones are by the same person. So who is he? Never heard of him in the Lotus community space. Let me google this for you. The second link goes to a LinkedIn page that isn't linked very much. The first link points to a more interesting page. Let me jump directly to the About me subpage. Apparently he works for IBM's agency.

This isn't grass roots. This isn't testimonials. It's just plain advertising. And that's OK. Just say it. People like good advertising.

You don't have to fake it when having sex with yourself. :-)

Comments

I agree they're "greasing the wheels" a bit right now - but I think they're planning on officially kicking this thing off at Lotusphere 2010. I would imagine that they'll explain it in more detail to the "faithful" who typically attend Lotusphere, and get them fired up.

And I can't count the number of times I've heard people in the community not only complain about Lotus marketing, but many have even come up with ideas for how they should be done, and the message they should convey.

Well, this gives them a chance to do just that.

So yes, I agree Volker - they're providing the lion's share (if not all) of the content at this time; I'm going to reserve judgment on this effort until after Lotusphere.

Cheers!

Rocky Oliver, 2009-12-06

I said it before and I say it again: people like good advertising. I encourage IBM to go full speed ahead. I find the idea pretty silly that people who can hardly design a web page are able to do good advertising. And there is no need to fake it.

Volker Weber, 2009-12-06

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