Millennials have unprecedented access to product information. Looking for the scoop about a digital camera? Type the brand and model into Google and you’ll be inundated with blogs and reviews. Buying a first car? Go to one of countless auto-enthusiast message boards and you’ll have enough reading material to last you for weeks.
Gone are the days when you would pick up a magazine and read a professional review column, thinking it was the be-all-end-all say on a product. These days, people are putting their trust in blogs, choosing peer opinion versus expert opinion.
Word-of-mouth is not new, but this is new territory for companies constantly jockeying for the market’s attention. Trying to tap into something as organic as blogging has proven difficult. Sponsored blogging company PayPerPost ran into trouble when Google decided that sponsored blogs were unworthy of front-page rankings. The sponsored blogging business model still remains controversial and has yet to see full-fledged mainstream adoption.
The recent news about Bike Hero being fake reminds me that Gen Y has extremely fine-tuned BS detectors — it seems that we think something is even remotely fake, it probably is. It’s almost disillusioning and insulting to think that agencies are continually trying to camouflage adverts. Why pretend to be something? The magic is always lost when you discover something to be a lie, even if it’s just a YouTube video or a funny blog.
It’s a very fine line between corporatizing something natural versus being a contributing participant. For brands trying to infiltrate Gen Y and its media, the key factor is, and has always been, sincerity.
Thanks to Alx for the pic.
January 13, 2009 on 3:54 pm
This post makes me think about Malcolm Gladwells book The Tipping Point in his study of epidemics and the power of word of mouth. If you haven’t read it, check it out.
January 25, 2009 on 2:07 pm
Wealth / Money Expert for Teens – sharing the ‘best of the web’ this week…
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I like my lattes, thankyouverymuch
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The A to Z for Parents Teaching Teens About Money – Using your natural talents…
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