Last week, i saw an ad for jeans on the back of a bus. Not so unusual. It had a picture of a bored and pasty youth, a Wrangler jeans logo, and a url. This one: http://www.myspace.com/wranglerjeans. Apparently, Wrangler is male, 101 years old and would rather not discuss his sexual orientation. His interests are a bunch of photos that, when clicked on, open the MySpace page again in a new window. Wrangler has a website: http://www.wrangler.com but it seems they want the kids to interact with them via their MySpace page. I think this comment (from Melbourne band The Emergency) sums up the success of this particular effort:
Hello there a pair of jeans!
I remember when I got Wranglers for $35 at Myer, just a few short years ago. They seemed to be made much better then.
Oh well, you're much more popular now, I guess being popular is the most important thing in the world.
Another comment thanks Wrangler for the ad. Now, businesses running ad campaigns in social spaces isn't unusual, but it is generally unpopular with communities. I understand that businesses are experimenting in this area and most haven't found ways to offer something of value to the community that also promotes their product. I'm just surprised that Wrangler chose to use its external poster advertising to promote this page. I'm guessing it didn't pay off.
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1 comment:
That is awesome.
A part of the deal of social media that a lot of companies struggle with is that it's a two way street.
You don't just get to sign up and be cool. If join the group, you can be cast out of the group, teased, and picked on as much as you can be celebrated. Brands with crafted personalities (as opposed to actual personalities) are highly vulnerable.
What is the communications strategy for a brand that signs up to a social network as if they were a person? What do they say, how do they respond, who is their voice? And does having such a voice add or detract from the value of the brand?
The other thing of course - and this goes for bands as well imo - is that replacing a regular web page (useful) with a MySpace page (99% crap) is really, really annoying.
I don't want to see that a band has 10 billion hott friends, I want a definitive discography and maybe some lyrics or something.
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