LATEST UPDATE (August 4):
ATTENTION XBOX WEENIES: When I first created this post, I didn’t really understand what this blog was about. Whatever. Now I get it. I’ve since acknowledged that. Please stop posting comments on this thread to that same effect. Point taken. Get a frickin’ life already.
ORIGINAL POST:
It’s sad that consumer marketers think the best thing they can do with a blog is create fake ones. It was one thing when Sega did its Beta-7 blog, as that was actually really good and lots of people fell for it. But the stupid Be Tag-Free thing and now I Love Bees (from Xbox) are just lame. Michael O’Connor Clarke has the full story in his aptly named post Buzz Marketing.
FIRST UPDATE/CLARIFICATION:
A few commenters in my comments section on this post suggest that I’m not giving this its proper credit, that the blog is just one link in a chain of some kind of online mystery teaser campaign, and that lots of gamers who are following it think it is in fact a pretty cool campaign. I haven’t had the time (or inclination) to follow up on it further and judge for myself, so do take my cynicism with a grain of salt. May be I’m the one who doesn’t get it in this case, not the marketers.
What I think this does hightlight, however, is that it’s possible to come into a marketing event like this without the proper context, so marketers need to consider that. Like in the movies, you should be able to see a sequel without having seen the original and still enjoy it. If this works in its full context but looks bad if you find your way into it partway through, that is a problem. A link to this page from Instapundit would blow away the people are finding it from the start, and then more people could have a negative impression than a positive one. Like my annoyance at Big Blog Company the other day; so their “fuck you” comment wasn’t intended for outside eyes. Their mistake, however, was assuming it wouldn’t be seen out of context. Taken out of context, it wasn’t pretty.
Another Fake Blog: I Love Bees
Fake Blogs gaining steam.
Couldn’t agree more with Rick Bruner on “Another Fake Blog: I Love Bess.” If you’re thinking about starting a Weblog to help you connect with your customers or reach new ones, try writing from the heart first. If you have…
Trackback by Pheedo — July 27, 2004 @ 9:24 pm
Fakes blogs as marketing tricks
Companies are launching fake blogs: some actually look like blogs but pretend to be genuine ones and hide their marketing intention. Others claim they are blogs when they are just gross imitations. Heinz is launching its first ad campaign for…
Trackback by we make money not art — July 28, 2004 @ 4:52 am
Just lame ???
I guess you’re not part of the XBOX target, who seems to have fallen in love with this campaign…
Just have a look at all the websites that are talking about this campaign.
Gamespot, a famous game media, has even said in one article, that is probably one of the best marketing campaign ever.
It was pretty clear from the beginning that XBOX was behind this stunt, so you can’t blame a manipulation attempt.
XBOX knows that if you want to connect with their target, they’d better offer them anything but ads.
That’s what they’re doing : they involve the public in a game with numerous mysteries to solve.
Don’t look only on the tip of iceberg…
Comment by Stephane — July 28, 2004 @ 7:34 am
Stephane,
Those are reasonable comments, I suppose. Frankly, I did look only at the tip of the iceberg. I do think the idea of spoofing a weblog is on the surface a bit lame, but I had not explored further to see what other angles the campaign involved or seen the positive reviews. I would, however, be interested to know more about your angle on this. Since you leave no URL, email or last name, I have no context, but one wonders when you’re so passionate about defending it whether you have some stake in it. Care to elaborate?
Comment by Rick Bruner — July 28, 2004 @ 9:39 am
Rick, you will find most of the information you’re looking for about that clever marketing buzz in the comments of the same news posted on adrants (http://www.adrants.com/2004/07/xbox-launch-plan-used-fake-blog-gets.php?show_id=109095695616457230#bk_109095695616457230). Not that I am advertising that website…I am just to lazzy to copy and paste the comments.
Comment by Guillaume — July 28, 2004 @ 12:50 pm
Fake Blogs gaining steam.
Couldn’t agree more with Rick Bruner on “Another Fake Blog: I Love Bees.” If you’re thinking about starting a Weblog to help you connect with your customers or reach new ones, try writing from the heart first. If you have…
Trackback by Pheedo — July 28, 2004 @ 5:51 pm
Fakes blogs as marketing tricks
Companies are launching fake blogs: some actually look like blogs but pretend to be genuine ones and hide their marketing intention. Others claim they are blogs when they are just gross imitations. Heinz is launching its first ad campaign for baked bea…
Trackback by unmediated — July 28, 2004 @ 8:13 pm
Fakes blogs as marketing tricks
Companies are launching fake blogs: some actually look like blogs but pretend to be genuine ones and hide their marketing intention. Others claim they are blogs when they are just gross imitations. Heinz is launching its first ad campaign for baked bea…
Trackback by unmediated — July 28, 2004 @ 8:15 pm
Fake blogs
The New York Times discovers that some blogs are fictional. No mention of fake blogs being set up as marketing tools, though….
Trackback by Thoughtsignals — July 29, 2004 @ 5:31 am
I’m not sure I’d label “ilovebees” as a hoax or fake blog. It’s more like a riddle. The initial seed for the site was the URL inserted into the E3 Halo trailer, so it was very clear it had something to do with the game. What’s driving the interest (and there appears to be a great deal of interest in the site within the target community) is trying to determine what a random thing has to do with the game.
GameSpot has a good bit of info on this particular campaign, including some history of Bungie (the game’s developer) using these sorts of tactics to generate pre-release hype.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/07/27/news_6103575.html
If the proof is in the pudding, all indications are this pudding tastes good.
Comment by Todd W. — July 29, 2004 @ 9:43 am
Well I guess it’s a countdown to when this game comes out. But it already says something else will happen in the next 12 days. This one is a doozy.
Comment by Dan — July 30, 2004 @ 3:30 am
The blog is not the entry point of the game.
This is the internet if you didn’t know already, there is no way for marketers to control that someone will enter into the game via the blog.
But the blog itself has many entry points to the game itself, which is obvious you did not take the time to research beyond the surface of the blog.
Poor research is the problem with your comments, nothing you said supports your conclusions.
Comment by WH — July 30, 2004 @ 5:39 am
Good idea making everything accessible to all people. Let’s have no entry requirements for anything. Let’s dumb everything down. Ah to be Harrison Bergeron. Oh wait, I can’t use that – what if not everyone gets it?
Comment by Chris Lorenzen — July 30, 2004 @ 3:58 pm
I have a particular article I want you to read, but it’s a month old, but you could get there form http://www.cnn.com. It has to do with bees.
There you go, it’s not accessible to everybody now is it? You’ll have to search for it, don’t you.
Again, the nature of the internet makes direct linking accessible to all people, not the game itself.
If you must know, the game’s first entry point was bottle of honey mailed to the Alternate Reality Network members with letter cutouts that when arranged spelled out ILOVEBEES.
Yes, I see how that is accessible to everyone.
Next entry point is during the theatre trailer for the game Halo2 for a 1/2 second, is flashed. Yes, 100% accesssible by everybody.
All these entry points has aboslutely no entry to unless you go to the site first.
That you’re given the direct link to the site is the fault of the original source that did not take things into context.
The reviewer did nothing on the site, because the link to is always on the front.
Again, poor research, therefore bad conclusion.
Comment by WH — July 30, 2004 @ 6:17 pm
Augmented reality for Halo 2?
Further convergence between gaming and mobile technologies (including GPS) with new computer game launches… From Test:”Remember ‘The Beast’? the game that was secretly launched around the movie AI? It seems that there is another similar augmented rea…
Trackback by Parsec project — September 16, 2004 @ 2:50 pm
Augmented reality for Halo 2?
Further convergence between gaming and mobile technologies (including GPS) with new computer game launches… From Test:”Remember ‘The Beast’? the game that was secretly launched around the movie AI? It seems that there is another similar augmented rea…
Trackback by Parsec project — September 16, 2004 @ 2:55 pm
haha great! I must show that to my friend 😀
Comment by Jerom — December 19, 2006 @ 8:45 pm