The meme comes west
This is the one where I get all conceptual on yo asses…..
Can blogs ever replace advertising and public relations?
The simple answer is no.
The complicated answer is blogs are a new tool and while (for a variety of reasons) the advertising and public relations world might be resistant to adopting this new tool, it’s certainly in their best interests to get on board now.
So yes, it’s a brave new world out there. Adopt or die, blah blah blah. But how do we do this? If blogging is the great new tool, how do we use it and leverage (I hate that word) that to sell more widgets, etc.? Sure we can scare the guys in the suits but can we actually do something productive with all this new … stuff???
This year Hugh has dragged me into two experiments.
In the first, English Cut, the mission was simple, leverage (ugh, that word again!) the blog and the fact of a blogging tailor to get that tailor some ink. And ink we got and will get (stay tuned!) and that’s the simple and straightforward mission of the PR guy - get ink for client to help client grow business.
English Cut is a perfect illustration of what Hugh means when talks about smarter conversations. And by offering up Thomas as one of those ’smarter conversations’ to interested journalists, i.e., here’s a guy who can talk about the industry, not just about himself, I was able to get Thomas in front of some of one of the top men’s fashion writers in New York. So stay tuned on that.. the best is yet to come.
Now Hugh and I are into a new ’smarter conversation.’
Last night Stormhoek quietly made its US debut.
The conversation has just started but just like English Cut it’s going to grow in ways we haven’t even imagined yet.
The world of wine marketing, as I’m discovering, is a crowded field with a lot of splashy labels but not much information provided to the consumer. We’re trying something new, throwing a Hail Mary as we say here in the States. Let’s go around the traditional gatekeepers in the wine industry and see if we can have a conversation about our wine with the folks who are actually enjoying it.
It just occurred to me that this is the most fun I’ve had doing marketing stuff in a long time.
Technorati Tags: blogging, /cluetrain, /geek dinner, /Hughtrain, /marketing, /public relations, /stormhoek
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
[...] David’s past experiences range from the intense and hectic New York City political campaigns to work at several major agencies and helping the English Cut launch as one of the most unique and successful PR/Marketing blog efforts - ever. He worked with Hugh McLeod to launch this tailor’s blogging campaign. Read their story here and more here at David’s blog. I’m not blowing smoke by saying ‘ever’, either. A blog that makes Bespoke Savile Row tailors the talk of the internet is impressive. They have also teamed up to bring wine marketing online in blogs and made a big splash - in all the right ways. [...]
brave new world…
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….
That’s like what Three Buck Chuck did, and then the press came. Trader Joe’s never really did any PR campaign for the wine, but it built a huge following from its customers, and then sprang forth into the news. Of course, being in Trader Joe’s didn’t hurt Chuck either.
The thing with blogs is that they are the most base level of grassroots marketing, where it can virally spread. We’ve seen it be used for good, we’ve seen it be used for personal vendettas, we’ve seen it be used for boredom. But, all in all it does work.
To go back to the other post, I think it’s the guerilla marketers that will win, because they’ll have no issues sending out fake commenters to blogs to “discuss” things.