Mind The Gap

Here's my latest (longish) article explaining in PR and marketing speak how blogs and other consumer generated media are affecting modern marketing.

When a company’s marketing story differs from the one being told in the blogopshere, a treacherous gap appears into which PRs and marketeers can easily stumble.  Apple experienced such a gap recently during the launch of its Nano MP3 player....

...While a slick campaign portrayed a must-have product that could be flipped around in one hand, the blogosphere was alive with chat about the tiny iPod’s fragilities.

The way in which the gap came about is an increasingly familiar story.

Matthew Peterson, an unhappy customer had approached Apple and been told the problem was not covered by his warranty.  Left unsatisfied and unloved he created a blog (flawedmusicplayer.com) to talk about the problem and seek out other disgruntled customers.

Thanks to real time blog aggregators like Technorati and Blogpulse word quickly spread.  Unhappy Nano owners swarmed around Peterson’s blog and sent in photographs of their broken MP3 players which went onto the site.  The self-organised consumer campaign was off and running.

After reaching a head of steam in the blogopshere the story spilled into online news services, such as Google News, which gave it an extra boost around the web. 

Finally the mainstream media smelt a juicy story about a modern icon and news about Apple’s ‘problem product’ was being broadcast beyond the confines of the web by the BBC.  From such an elevated platform it wasn’t long before analysts’ sales expectations for the product launch were downgraded and Apple’s share price took a jolt.

At this point the gap was growing at such speed that Apple’s hand was forced.  The company spoke directly to the website owner and admitted publicly there was a problem.  Peterson then took his site down and the gap was effectively closed.  The story still rumbles on in online reviews and blog posts but Apple was seen to have acted quickly enough – albeit without some degree of reluctance.

The lesson?  While Apple spent a tidy sum bringing a product to market through mainstream media – an individual was able to start a campaign at almost zero cost.  Within a week a gap appeared that that was big enough for the enough for the BBC to spot and put on its news agenda. 

Customer complaints are as old as trading itself, but have they ever been able to grow so rapidly and to such a scale that global corporations find themselves out manoeuvred?

A common reaction to such stories is how do people do like Peterson find the time to create such a campaign?  Hasn’t he got better things to do?

The truth is that launching a blog to air your views is cheap and easy and blog aggregators will do the hard work.  Also, traditional media is becoming aware that there are tasty stories about brands bubbling up from the blogosphere all the time  - which they are happy to use. 

In fact, compared to dealing with  a labyrinthine customer relations department, launching a blog can be an easy option.

In July 2004, Adrian Melrose, a Brit, launched a blog about his experiences following the £45k purchase of a Land Rover Discovery.  While Land Rover’s campaign in the mainstream media boasted about the vehicle’s, “bold, pure design”, Melrose was telling the blogopshere about being left, “stranded” by the car and three subsequent replacement vehicles failing.

Eventually, Land Rover spoke to Melrose and he was given a full refund.  But that wasn’t the end.  To rub salt into the wound (or the gap) he now writes about the new Audi Q7 he bought and compares it in glowing terms to his Land Rover. Or as Melrose puts it, “I continue to get a few hundred hits a day on this site and I am going to make sure that prospective owners are fully aware of the terrible QA problems this car suffers from.”

That’s clearly a problem for Land Rover when so many automotive purchases start online and the unhappy customer is an articulate individual like Melrose, to which other potential buyers can relate. 

In a landmark speech made by Rupert Murdoch in April 2005 the media baron said, “The digital native doesn’t send a letter to the editor anymore. She goes online, and starts a blog.”  The same can be said of consumers who take issue with a brand or product.

People are finding it easier and more effective to get their voice heard in the public forum of the blogopshere.  They know that if they say one thing while a company is claiming another, the mainstream media might jump in and help build a gap that the company can’t ignore.

As customers become more adept with simple web tools like blogs and understand how they can use them to be heard, expensive marketing campaigns will continue to be undermined.  And the mainstream media will be watching out for those companies who fail to spot the gaps appear.

Comments

[~Dawn]

That was an inspiration post.
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[Holly Buchanan]

I think blogs and other consumer generated media are bringing to the forefront what has been happening for years - unhappy customers who've had a bad experience and more importantly a bad experience with the lack of response to their problem - are spreading the word to everyone they know.

I specialize in marketing to women, and I'll tell ya - they've shared bad experiences since the beginning of time.

I had a client who owned an apartment complex that had had two fires in the last 4 years. They swore up and down that it was not a problem. why? Because the people for whom it was a problem simply didn't rent an apartment there. They company didn't hear complaints - so just assumed there were none.

The two differences now are - because of the blogosphere, you can spread the word faster and easier. AND since it's easier for the media to pick up on it, companies are forced to see the problem.

Companies may be afraid of negative word of mouth - but I think it's a win/win. Customers will force companies to be more accountable - Companies will hear the negative response and hopefully do something to address it.

Hopefully.

Thanks for a great article.

Holly Buchanan

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We are better off today than we were eight years ago