Stealth Marketing Unethical?

arsTechnica has an article about the FTC issue of a public statement coming out against so called "stealth marketing" where people participate in the marketing of a product on behalf of a company without being aware of the fact that it is a marketing effort. Essentially this is viral marketing used in what the FTC deems an unethical way. A consumer group called for them to investigate it, but they declined. This draws a very fine line from my perspective of what is considered ethical and what isn't. The arsTechnica post specifically references the Sony PSP site I listed a few days ago. I don't really see a problem with that. In some of the examples the FTC cited, I can see a possible conflict. But I would hate to see viral story sites fall into the unethical category. They aren't really asking people to do anything, it's more just a storyline people are following. No one believes everything they read online, as long as a site doesn't try to pass itself off as official, I don't see why it would be misleading in a harmful way.

Pick on Sony day

Sony has its share of problems and has made lots of mistakes. I wonder if the fuss over this is just jumping on the anti-Sony bandwagon or if people really find this tactic offensive. It's not much different than the marketing campaigns I mentioned a few days ago. I still feel that when done right, it's an incredible way to market. Perhaps the difference is that the other campaigns were so over the top that people didn't feel silly for believing it? The LonelyGirl15 thing caused a fuss when the truth came out, but I don't think it put an end to it. Some people were upset, but overall her fans got over it and enjoyed it as the soap opera it is.

Online advertising expected to grow...

Not surprisingly, companies are expected to devote more advertising dollars to the online world. I'm sure the shift in focus will pay off for most companies who try, but I don't think it is simply because of the novelty. The reason online advertising can pay off is because it can be highly targeted, and not by demographic, but by situational context. You can send me all the ads you want for vinyl siding, but I live in an apartment so you're not going to make a sale to me. Offer me something related to what I'm searching on though and I'm perfectly willing to check it out. Some companies have been manipulating the context matching though, the first ads returned on Google are often fill-in-the-blank ads, so looking up reasons for my cat being ill, might list "shop Ebay for cat vomit." Huh? Please, I don't mind ads as long as they are relevant and non-disruptive. If I'm interested, I'll click, otherwise, leave me alone.

Nike Van Experience

Yesterday, I wrote about a marketing effort that doesn't look like marketing. Here is another example. Nike is traveling the country with a van full of its sneakers for people to try out. One of the key elements is that the Nike rep is not allowed to sell the shoes, it's intended only to let people experience the brand. This makes a lot of sense to me. I know I am increasingly resistant to anything that might appear to be a sales pitch. As consumers, we know the game, and we're less interested in playing it these days.

Starbucks Cheerpass

I just read about a promotion that Starbucks is running involving something called a "CheerPass." I didn't find much information on it because I didn't get a CheerPass given to me, but from what I can surmise, it's a card issued from Starbucks that you give to someone else as part of a favor you have done for them. Before passing the card on to someone else with a favor they do for them, the recipient can go to the website and write a short story about the experience. The concept is based on the Pay-It-Forward idea that was the storyline of a book and movie a few years ago. Tracking the pass adds a 6-degrees of separation aspect to it and allows you to see how far of a "reach" your favor had in encouraging others to do good deeds. It's similar to tracking your money as it changes hands as is now possible with the Internet. I like the idea because it encourages people to do nice things for others and gets them to write about it on a branded site so others can share in the joy. It's marketing without looking like marketing, and as such it is likely to get past our "filters."