“Bloggers have become a challenge and an opportunity for the advertising industry,” Frank Barnako reports for MarketWatch.
Barnako reports, “Their spontaneous, unedited, sometimes emotional ‘first takes’ on new products are substantially impacting business, according to Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a 100-person division which monitors the blogosphere. He calls bloggers ‘a kind of Fifth Estate or journalism.'”
“Blackshaw says bloggers are everywhere, using laptops, video cameras, and digital recorders to publish their comments, reactions, and criticisms. Nowhere was this more evident than earlier this month when the Detroit Auto Show, the Consumer Electronics Show, and MacWorld were vying for attention,” Barnako reports.
“Apple’s iPhone was the clear winner, Blackshaw said. It was mentioned by more blogs than President Bush and McDonald’s for 10 days. Wikipedia had an iPhone entry within minutes of Steve Jobs’ announcement of the product, and YouTube had more iPhone-related clips than it did for Gucci or the Pope,” Barnako reports.
Barnako reports, “Ad agencies and media buyers are trying to gauge what to do about bloggers and other online media. Since bloggers are looking for Web links to include in their reports, marketers are weighing whether to spend all their money in traditional media or to take some to build a fuller Web site for the brand. Blackshaw cited Apple Computer for coordinating its online assets for the iPhone introduction. Product photos, specifications, and narrative about the product were available immediately at Apple.com.”
Full article here.