Or, how the marketers got to Nerd’s Eye View.
First things first. I was asked to participate in a 25 entrant writing contest to win a trip to Martinique. You should totally vote for me because, duh, of course I want to go to Martinique. One of the 25 bloggers “recruited” for the contest is going to go, it might as well be me, doncha think? Yes, you’re going to have to hand over an email address, but then you get entered in the contest also, and wouldn’t you like to hang out with me in Martinique? I’d sure like to hang out with you, eating excellent seafood, drinking tropical cocktails, watching the sun go down, or having a leisurely breakfast before we head off for a strenuous day of lolling about the beach… you get it. Go here.
Okay, here’s the deal. The whole thing is a marketing program for whoever is handling Martinique tourism these days, isn’t it? They contact me and offer me Martinique-esque swag and a shot at a trip to the island. I tell you and off you go to the website, and they get your email address and send you stuff about the island and all of a sudden, you’re thinking, huh, Martinique! There’s an idea… It’s clever marketing, a little back door media through an unconventional channel. Thing is, you don’t have to sell ME on the idea of a getaway to the tropics, hell, I’m always up for it and as far as passing the word along to you? I feel okay about that. Come on, don’t tell me you wouldn’t like a sun break about now. Unless you’re sub-equatorial, in which case, I’m sorry.
But check this out, too. On the heels of the Martinique pitch comes another PR mail. “Thought you’d be interested in this travel blog…” says the mail. Meh. okay, I click through and I don’t get it. It’s a nice enough blog but shockingly free of advertising. What’s the pitch? I click through a few times and I give up. Why is the PR company promoting this one guy’s blog? And, in a more self-serving question, why aren’t PR companies promoting Nerd’s Eye View? What gives here? What the hell, I email the PR company back and ask them.
Here’s the deal. The blogger is an artist. The artwork is displayed at a restaurant chain. The idea is that I point you to the blog, you get interested in the art, you go to the restaurant to see the work and there you are, eating your franchised meal. This one, no can do. I can’t vouch for the quality of the food, I don’t think you should eat a chain unless you’re out of options, and even then, are you sure you wouldn’t do better just going to the supermarket? But I do have to say that I appreciate the honesty from the PR folks. When I asked, they told me exactly what the deal was. I wonder how many people ask.
I can totally get behind the idea of a vacation to Martinique; I can’t get behind the idea of a chain restaurant meal. I might eat at a chain restaurant in Martinique because I’m not really a snob, I just don’t think you’d believe me if I said, “Dude, you have to go to Olive Garden to check out this artwork.” (It’s not Olive Garden, FYI, but you get the gist.) Interesting stuff from the land of marketing to blogs, through blogs.
Agree with you about the artist to good food connect. It wouldn’t work for me. Lucky artist; that is if s/he is getting paid well for the blog.
Definitely could do the Martinique thing. And, then if it got boring, then we could hope down and visit my mother and friend folks in Grenada.
How did the competition go? Do you know if blogging is proving to be a success for the tourist board. If so I would like to include a blog on my website: http://www.discover-martinique.co.uk
I didn’t win a trip to Martinique, not enough votes, I think. There was no follow up from the contest hosts, so I don’t know who DID win, if the winner went and blogged about it, or what – disappointing because the contest was quite small, I think it would have been easy to inform everyone of who the lucky winner was and where they’d be blogging about their trip.
You could probably ask the board directly if it’s been a success for them, but I do think they missed out on the opportunity to use the momentum of blogging by not following up with the participants after the contest was over to let us know about the results. This contest was popularity driven, not the best way to choose a winner because it’s doesn’t guarantee quality coverage, but perhaps the gain of having a popular blogger drive readers to the site outweighs the risk of badly written coverage of the trip.
I do think it’s great when organizations included bloggers in their press trips – even when they’re not me 🙂 – because it does acknowledge the wide reach blogging about travel has. A worthwhile pursuit, IMHO, FWIW, and other acronyms that mean “my two cents worth.”