Giveaway to Bloggers Almost Turns into an Interesting Experiment
There has been a lot of discussion on the A-List blogs about Microsoft giving and then ungiving a sweet Ferrari laptop loaded with Windows Vista to influential tech bloggers. Microsoft’s PR firm asked the bloggers to use Vista and wants them to write about it. If the PR firm was thinking clearly, they would have treated this hubbub as an experiment and not retracted the gift. But they did retract and in doing so they signaled they had made a mistake. But did they?
There has been a lot of discussion of this giveaway here here here here here here here here and here. Some think it is ok and others think it isn’t. Overall, I think Joel of Joel on Software has the most informed and experienced opinion. The question is did Microsoft buy good reviews with these giveaways? I’m not sure. It is clear they didn’t expect this reaction from the blog community. Will the bloggers give the Laptops back? Have they been influenced by the good will of Microsoft? Or will they look at Vista with an extra skeptical eye because they and everyone else knows Microsoft tried to buy a review? The one sure thing is an unbiased opinion by the bloggers is out of the question.
There is a good reason the government and many companies have limits on the value of gifts to their employees. It influences decisions. But this practice is nothing new and it will not stop any time soon. There are plenty of examples of products that have succeeded with the help of celebrity give-aways and influential placements. The Chrystler 300, Omega Watches, lots of clothing and shoes and many other products are given away to influencers all the time. And it works. You can’t fault Microsoft for trying.
The interesting twist on this giveaway is the effect of the blogs themselves. Never before has there been a way for people to easily talk about this attempt at influence. Microsoft’s intentions have been made clear and exposed for all to see. This could have been a very interesting experiment for Microsoft’s PR firm. Give the bloggers a gift with the clear intention of influencing their writing. Let them talk about the gift. See if it influences their writing. I would love to have the list of bloggers that received laptops so I could watch and see how they spoke about Vista. There may still be some lessons to learn if one watches closely enough. But the experiment has mostly been spoiled.
Tags: opinion, technology
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