Samsung Offered StackOverflow Users $500 For "Organic" Publicity 146
First time accepted submitter rjmarvin writes "Digital marketing company FLLU, hired by Samsung to promote SSAC, offered $500 to StackOverflow users to pose 'casual and organic' questions over the next month about the 2013 Challenge. Android developer Delyan Kratunov turned them down, then posted the whole exchange on his blog. Outrage, of course, ensued." Sorry, no bounty on the comments below.
Re:Facebook does it, Slashdot does it (Score:2, Insightful)
Ads posing as content. Samsung probably felt left out.
Keep in mind it wasn't Samsung, but their stupid, and probably former, marketer.
Re:Facebook does it, Slashdot does it (Score:5, Insightful)
If you delegate, YOU are responsible for the fuck-up. It's that simple. Doesn't matter whether it's CEO, employee, or contractor - Samsung have fucked up here.
At least it wasn't outsourcing to the private sector by government. That's the worst thing to happen to modern Western society, as the tail's now permanently wagging the dog.
Did he get the cash? (Score:4, Insightful)
Given the publicity he gave Samsung, did they pay him the $500 in the end?
Re:Would've been terribly unsuccessful anyway (Score:5, Insightful)
It's always a gamble, and may not pay off (Score:4, Insightful)
Either way, the old saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity" comes true, and some marketer who was called out is probably walking all the way to the bank.
Not... necessarily. There is such a thing as bad publicity, as amply demonstrated by MS recently with regards to the XboxOne DRM and other issues. That bought them a lot of ill-will from their ex-fans. Sure, they did a 180, retracted their position and maybe clawed back some of their hard core fans. But everything they've been doing since is to make up for lost traction for their new console. Worse still, they publicly boosted their strongest competitor at a very crucial time, when the new consoles were being unveiled and the publicity machine was gearing up to create hype.
Hell, it was basically win-win. If he wasn't found out, great, more entries. If he was called out, even more publicity. Either way, more people know about it and that was the entire point.
Except... thats not the point. The point from a marketing perspective is to close sales for your client. There is no point spamming a million eyeballs if none of them are potential customers. Thats the reason why Google Adwords commands premium rates- because they can deliver ads to people who are most likely to buy the product (i.e. those searching for "ipad sale" etc).
On this issue, there is no guarantee that this stunt will increase participation in the Samsung Smart App Contest. Those people checking it out may still go "meh" and pass on it.
More importantly, if this thing blows up, it has the potential to damage Samsung's brand. Samsung is a billion dollar company and Samsung Smart App is in comparison a piddly portion of the whole. If however, Samsung gains a reputation for astroturfing, it could seriously damage the brand. Just look at what is happening to MS now, I have seen numerous posts supportive of MS products on many tech forums being derided as being from paid shills, and rightly so since they were outed. Once the brand is poisoned, it is extremely difficult to repair .