Comments on: pure marketing meltdown denial

By: Lightpierce : Squint

Lightpierce : Squint — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:53:54 +0000

“Open” to bloggers?

American Express is sponsoring a

By: frosty

frosty — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 00:55:40 +0000

Wow, I'd never seen the Manolo before. Great stuff. Beyond the "fake blogs" there are also the "autoblogs" - about which I wrote a little here: http://biztos.com/frost/etc/adsense-loop.html It would be interesting to do a fake-blogger-autoblog. Say, on marketing. Have a nice little robot grab things off the web (maybe via Google) and blog about them in a particular style. Auto-generated text in a particular "voice" seems to work well in academia: http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern Another thought: what if we could automatically translate Hugh into Manolo?

By: steven streight aka vaspers the grate

steven streight aka vaspers the grate — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 11:05:33 +0000

Ghost Blogging: a schmuck researches the industry and target audience, then writes a pretend blog “post” for the client…
…and the blog poses as the client’s platform featuring his authentic and candid voice pontificating and interacting with target audience.
Fictional Character Blog: a non-existent brand persona poses as a real human blogger even though everyone is supposed to know that he’s an imaginary being (Barney, Ronald McDonald, the Giant Mickey Mouse of Disney World, Chicken of the Sea tuna mermaid, Pillsbury Doughboy)…
…and the unreal character blogs about non-events and make believe interactions with other fantasy persons, whilst voicing whatever propaganda the company or ad agency wants to put in his mouth.
Yeah. Real good turn of events for the bloatosphere.
What is the difference between a Fictional Blogger and a Fiction Book?
When people use a fiction book, they are not interacting with the fictional characters, they just read about them for entertainment.
Hugh, can you think of other differences?

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 02:37:33 +0000

jbr: It’s fake. Or else it’s real, but the author just doesn’t get the crucial difference between a blog and a term paper or interoffice memo. Or else it’s real, but the author is a pompous ass who actually does sound like that.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 02:29:46 +0000

“Sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

By: Tony May

Tony May — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 22:57:17 +0000

Sorry about opening line. Was meant for the Flat World link to NYTimes.com.

By: Tony May

Tony May — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 22:53:07 +0000

Not personally being an avid reader of NYTimes.com, I was bummed to find your link required username/pword to read the story. Otherwise, I agree with your comments on the fake blog comments. I have addressed this on my own blog and made comments about this on Scoble’s. What I don’t understand is how (at least some) ad agencies understand a client’s brand & brand potential and the need to be authentic and how well that translates to consumers…yet the clients do not. What is the deal with the gap between the two?

By: jbr

jbr — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 11:58:20 +0000

speaking of fake blogs....go to this new site and decide. if a real blog, this is amazing and that's what bugs me...it's almost too good/smooth....reads like a script from a television show... check it out http://bigpicturesmalloffice.blogs.com/bigpicturesmallofficecom/

By: Crossroads Dispatches

Crossroads Dispatches — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 07:29:24 +0000

I See Patterns and The Zenification of Nearly Everything

I was waiting for the subway a month ago in San Francisco. A poster across the tracks read:

By: David Burn

David Burn — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 04:42:11 +0000

"But if your voice/persona/alter ego comes off as phoney, whether it's "real", "fake", or a bit of both, you're going get hammered, and not just by kvetchy bloggers like me. But by the market you're in." I hope your prognosis turns out to be true. Sadly, it has not been true of TV, print, radio, outdoor, etc. So, I'm not sure it will be true of marketing blogs. Of course, it's not possible to talk back to TV, print, radio, outdoor, etc. And now with fake comments and moderated comments, I'm not sure one can successfully talk back via a fake marketing blog either. At least we have our own real blogs to hammer them with. Not that they're going to listen. "They" being the Cluetrainless masses.

By: Piers Fawkes

Piers Fawkes — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 03:54:36 +0000

oh yeah. btw — we LOVE the Manolo!
(and I hear the folk down at Blanik hate him — HeHe!)

By: Piers Fawkes

Piers Fawkes — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 03:53:28 +0000

Somewhat related: we write a rather cheeky piece last week about fake blogs on PSFK: Could SpamBlogs Render Technorati Useless? http://www.psfk.com/2005/03/could_spamblogs.html

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:11:26 +0000

kathy sierra is a goddess. is she cute? is she single…?
*sigh*

By: jbr

jbr — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 01:53:31 +0000

manolo makes a good observation, but he may be missing something that i believe is important to understand about blogs.
yes, the “voice”/certain something is an attraction for a blog. certainly, hugh has a certain something and we congregate here daily for our dose of hugh. that certain something is a undefinable quality that is not unlike art.
like notable art, there is an element that attracts people to it. in hugh’s blog, it is his wit, artistry and understanding/demonstration of the marketing disruptive nature of blogs. in kathy sierra’s blog, it’s her awesome ability to write concise, understandable and entertaining posts. they each possess the certain something that attracts readers/viewers. they are each original/authentic.
making the analogy to art is key for any marketer
assuming that a well written, interesting fake blog is sure to attract customers. this is a false assumption. it’s like knock off art. it may look like the original, but it doesn’t possess the authenticity or certain something inherent in great art/blogs.
one other thing in the relationship between blogging and art.…there are way more starving artists than notably successful. even with the long tail effect, of the 8.5 million blogs out there, not all of them are read or noticed. why? likely, because they are missing the certain something that exists in great art.
hopefully, this made some sense.…

By: Niti

Niti — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 22:52:14 +0000

I think I just fell in love with Manolo
He *sounds* cute…