The motor industry embraces bloggers and influencers.
Auto journalist, Jack Barath for The Truth About Cars (TTAC) rails at the appearance of social media influencers in his sector, and in this case, at this week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
We all ran by them this morning on the way to the (Ford) Fusion introduction. Two signs. One sign said, “FORD PRESS EVENT”. The sign below it said “SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS”. The arrow pointed a different way. Who are “social media influencers”, anyway?
In particular, he complains about the way the car manufacturers have their own teams of bloggers experiencing carefully choreographed events.
General Motors and Ford both spent obscene amounts of money to fly “social media influencers” to Detroit from all over the world. The way these bloggers experience Detroit is very different from the way the TTAC crew did. They are herded from place to place, given talking points, and relentlessly groomed to Tweet and blog only the most flattering and sponsor-centric information. “Insider events” make sure that the GM bloggers, for example, didn’t see the plug-in Fusion — and the Ford bloggers were nowhere in evidence when the new Hyundais hit the ground. Instead, a group of mostly young, handsome, and gregarious PR people ensure that only the most profitable news reaches the ears of their impressionable charges.
The clothing industry takes bloggers to see ocean racing
Meanwhile, according to Mashable, Puma – the sports clothing brand, has taken 10 Tumblr bloggers and Instagram users to Abu Dhabi this week to meet the Volvo Ocean Race (previously called the Whitbread Round the World Race) competitors and soak up the stopover atmosphere. Puma is sponsoring one of the boats and is the official apparel supplier to the race.
Puma says the sponsored bloggers will have ‘free reign’ to cover and document what they wish, and the trip reflects the growing mainstream recognition and validity of bloggers’ influence over public opinion and what is considered hip or interesting. They will also document their experiences via Twitter and Facebook.
“The idea is to fly in these prominent bloggers and Instagramers and just have it be known that they’re there because of Puma and because they deserve it,” Andrew Schmidt, Puma’s manager of digital media projects, says.
Both Schmidt and Sullivan (one of the bloggers) say that they expect the brand-backed-blogger coverage model to become more common as bloggers continue to gain traction and credibility as public tastemakers.
They may be right, but are brands picking the right influencers? Generally accepted wisdom among travel editors is, that unless you specifically want the all too usual dull copy, peppered with newbie clichés about ‘splicing the main brace’, the ’19th hole’ or John Wayne, you never sent virgins on sailing, golf or horse riding trips. Only use experts.
What do you think? Should big brands cosy up to general lifestyle bloggers & influencers, or stick to specialist bloggers?
Image: PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race
For products that everyone buys, like cars or clothes or household items, it makes sense for brands to cozy up (or cosy up, if you’re British) to generalist bloggers who reach demographically-appropriate audiences. For example, if you’re Kia USA and you’re trying to get young people to buy an inexpensive “urban crossover” car like the Kia Soul, why not lend a few cars to hipster bloggers in Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. who have audiences of reasonable size and are willing to spread the word? Most prospective car buyers don’t read car magazines or blogs, and the ones who do probably aren’t the target market for a vehicle like the Kia Soul.
With travel, it’s trickier. Mainstream or mass-market travel products such as Disneyland, Legoland, and Royal Caribbean or Carnival cruises may be a good fit for a generalist lifestyle blog (such as a high-circulation “mommy blog”), but for most destinations and travel vendors, there’s a huge amount of waste circulation in a generalist blog. The situation isn’t much better with specialist travel blogs, because only a tiny percentage of the “followers” who read John Doe’s account of a visit to Guam during a round-the-world trip will be candidates for a trip to Guam.
Budget is another factor: A company like Ford is already spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year on advertising and PR, so diverting part of that budget into “social media influencers” entails very little risk. Most DMOs and travel vendors have less money to work with, so what would be a small line item for Ford is a big expense for the DMO or travel vendor.
I suppose it’s akin to those brands advertising in the daily newspaper, or the specialist monthly magazine. They would have different objectives and expectations from both campaigns.
As Durrant says, it makes perfect sense to “cosy up” (horrible term!) to the mainstream if your product is mainstream. Why would you hide it in the “special” corner?