BlogHer - Welcome to the Hotel Campari..such a lovely place - Comments

I'll check that out :)

Knights Valley USA — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 05:01:06 -0600

Good morning Marianne. It does feel right, to me. There is a blend of personal, social, and business blogs that all seem to coexist.

Like you, I am passiate about my work ... so it spills over ... even into my personal blog (and my personal life, in general). Same with my business blog, my personality spills over.

I agree, transparency is the real issue. I'm going to take your advice and read Charlene Li's Code of Ethics. Thank you.

Have a GREAT day! :)

Robert

http://knightsvalleyusa.spaces.live.com/
Website: www.knightsvalleyusa.com

Well, in my opinion

Marianne Richmond — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:46:54 -0600

Its whatever feels right for you....sounds like it would be difficult to separate the business you from the personal you...I don't think business vs personal is the ethical issue. I agree with Elisa, transparency is the issue.

Although a few years old, Charlene Li posted a great Blogger Code of Ethics with lots of references to others at
charleneli

Thanks for your comments, Robert.
Marianne Richmond
resonancepartnership

Elisa, I agree

Knights Valley USA — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:36:14 -0600

Hi. It's ironic that this topic would come up. I was just having a conversation with a friend and she suggested creating a MySpace for my business. She said ... "bands do it ... why not try it?" I told her I had a MySpace for personal, but used Windows Live Spaces for my business blog.

Elisa, is this really an issue? Isn't it socially acceptable to have a business blog ... and/or a personal blog? Does it really matter if they overlap?

I think I share your opinion. If you don't like a company's MySpace (or any space, in general) .. don't visit.

Robert

http://knightsvalleyusa.spaces.live.com/
Main Website: www.knightsvalleyusa.com

Hi Marianne. As a business

Knights Valley USA — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:29:27 -0600

Hi Marianne. As a business owner, I utilize many forms of marketing and advertising to drive sales. Three websites, magazines, newspapers, press releases, yellow pages, phonebook, sponsorships, professional alliances, and word of mouth.

I also have a business blog (http://knightsvalleyusa.spaces.live.com/) ... is that considered unethical?

My Windows Live Space gives me an additional avenue ... one more resource ... to "market" Knights Valley USA (and my other business'), tell my story, showcase my work, express my personality, share information, and interact with the marketplace as a whole. It's wonderful ... and it is also very time consuming and demanding on my time. There is a trade-off. Might payoff, might not. But in the mean time, I have an opportunity to share my business expertise, grow my business, and express myself freely.

I also have a MySpace that is intended for personal use ... and even then, my business interests are a part it. Knights Valley USA is a part of me ... it's personal too!

So, did I cross the line? Should MySpace or LiveSpaces be reserved only for personal ... or social media?

Robert Knight

Blog: http://knightsvalleyusa.spaces.live.com/
Main Website: www.knightsvalleyusa.com

Great post

Elisa Camahort — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:47:28 -0600

The blogosphere is being used in ways that some purists don't like. But as long as there is transparency then I think it's a free country and a free blogosphere. If you don't like a company's MySpace, don't visit it.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Welcome to the Hotel Campari..such a lovely place

Marianne Richmond — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:03:12 -0600

OK, well I guess those lyrics belong to the Hotel California which sounds just as creepy as Hotel Campari looks. Hotel California is a place in a song and Hotel Campari is a place in an advertising campaign. We know that, right?

BL Ochman asks, "How does Campari's Hotel Campari campaign compare to the Edelman Wal-mart flogs? Campari is using a veritable buffet of social networks to promote their brand. They are on YouTube, have a MySpace profile, and a Flickr site; but as BL notes, the inhabitants are fake and the" campaign is as unethical as Wal-Mart and other flogs."

I agree that they are fake. I just don't agree that in this case, fake is unethical. It's an advertising campaign that is using social media. What put the Edelman-Wal-Mart situation over the line was the lack of disclosure involved; I think it is reasonably clear that the Campari campaign is advertising.

Jeff Jarvis writing on the subject of word of mouth (another interesting topic) notes that, "if you want to market, then do what marketers do: Buy ads. The nice thing about an ad is that it is a transparent act of marketing. An ad comes with its own borders around it: You buy space or time to tell your story to my public, who can tell that you bought it and can then judge whether you also managed to buy my integrity and soul. The ad, by its very form, puts that relationship clearly out in public. Ads also support news and entertainment, and have for a century or more, and so I hope they also start to support blogging, vlogging, podcasting, and all that. When you donâ€™t buy an ad and try to influence us behind the scenes, for money or not, then you get in trouble. And you should."

Oh, I know that the Campari ad campaign is on social networks, therefore not a "bought ad"....but it is transparent just the same. Now, a slightly different question is, "can an advertising campaign BE a social network?" Richard MacManus at Read/Write Web gets to the essential issue when he asks, "How can you have a real social networking community around a fake, marketing-driven user profile?" Good question but quite honestly, I am not sure there is a definitive answer.

A sample of my own MySpace friends might illustrate the blurred definition and ask the question, "What is real in a social networking community?" I think I know that Willy Wonka and I do not a relationship although I do think the wonkavator explains a lot about consumer engagement.

The Campari client according to Richard MacManus believes the campaign has been very successful and has built community. The relationship that Campari is trying to build is between the brand and its users. They are not exactly doing a Wall-Mart or a Lonleygirl. The Washington Post elaborates on some of the other "deceptive fakes."

NiccolÃ² Magnani, from the Campari agency MRM Worldwide told MacManus,

"Our strategy was to focus on viral seeding and social networking, no traditional media adv online. I have no idea of the exact number of people going from Social Networks to Website [...] because we worked with a lot of social networks.

More than quantity, what I like to point is the quality of the relationship between users and Campari. Client is very happy about the close relationship between the brand and the users.

What I like is that we created a community of people that we can further talk about red passion."

This is an example of an advertising campaign that uses social media. It is not pretending to be anything else. Oh sure it is raunchy and soft porn and lots of other things perhaps that I don't think needs to be part of advertising. But, then again I don't drink Campari and they are not really trying to build a relationship with me.

It's just not an Edelman Walmart. And to quote Jeff Jarvis again, "That is one of the morals of the Edelman Wal-Mart blogging mess: The agency tried to hide in the old ways of PR but once exposed for its manipulation ended up doing more harm to itself and its client(s) and brand than if it had just done nothing."

Richard Edelman also referenced Jeff Jarvis in a post entitled, "A Thanksgiving Reverie on the Fork in the Road" which I think indicates that Edelman is still in denial. Edelman writes, "We are now at the fork in the road, where we will be able to say that we moved forward after an awkward start in our rookie year on the field, or can look back wistfully at what might have been."

This was not a social media ethical lapse. It was an ethical lapse, period. And is Richard Edelman a rookie? In what field?

And how does one charge clients in that context?

Tags: Camapri, Hotel Campari, Richard Edelman, Edelman, Wal-Mart, Jeff Jarvis, Marianne Richmond, BL Ochman, social media, Tags: MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, ethics, PR, Advertising, Richard MacManus, Washington Post

Marianne Richmond also blogs at Resonance Partnership Blog and Conversational Media Group Blog