I started writing a post today about telecommuting and how I spend my day. However, after reading Jordan Cooper’s post at Social Media Explorer about Brand Ambassadors (Brand Evangelist Jobs: An Oxymoron), I felt my rant coming on. Not towards Jordan and his post, which was right on, but about the whole brand ambassador thing in general. While Jordan mostly discusses brand ambassador gigs that pay, the truth is, a majority of the brand evangelism opportunities for bloggers don’t pay a dime. Sure, there’s a promise of free stuff or a plane ticket, but the end doesn’t always justify the means.
Something for Almost Nothing
Brand evangelism was on my mind yesterday after an email conversation with my sister, Diana ,who does most of the blogging on our Cookerati blog. A brand reached out to Diana and offered to fly her across the country so she can learn why it’s great to be a brand ambassador for them. In return for several days of her time on location, as well as regular brand evangelism, my sister would receive a flight + hotel room. My sister was not going to be paid for her time away from work, nor would she be paid for blogging and promoting the product. Sure, she might receive some free product, but does free stuff make up for the amount of work put into evangelizing said brand? If there’s one thing I know, it’s that if you put your heart into endorsing a brand it carries over way beyond a couple of blog posts. You’re now associated with that brand and many times people can’t look at you or what you do without seeing a logo.
Are Brand Ambassadors Really Into the Product?
Right after my sister sent me her email about the proposed brand ambassadorship, I saw this video by Jordan Cooper - Brand Evangelist Fakedom. (warning – salty talk) Yeah Jordan’s getting a lot of airplay on Kommein today, but I always give props to the people who make me think.
Anyway, Jordan discusses his encounter with a cigarette brand ambassador who doesn’t even smoke. I think about this all the time (phony evangelism, not smoking). It’s one thing to do a product review where a company will send you a product and you try it and discuss whether or not the product sucks. Evangelism goes a bit deeper because the ambassadors do more than review a product, they promote the heck out of it. They talk about the brands on blogs and social networks, they create fan pages and promote those pages, they wear the shirts and they get other bloggers to share the love. All in exchange for some product. And maybe a plane ticket.
Am I the only one who thinks the bloggers are getting the crappy end of the stick, here?
So what we have are a bunch of bloggers who are promoting a brand because they’re getting some swag or a conference ticket, but what we don’t necessarily have are bloggers who are seriously interested in a product. They probably wouldn’t have bought a box of (insert name of premium brand here) in the first place. But now they’re evangelizing a brand they know very little about because they received a case of goodies in the mail.
So is the blogger really behind the brand…or are they behind the fact that they got something for free. And really, it’s not free because they have to work at promoting it – plus if they did receive product or a trip in exchange for an ambassadorship, they also have to pay taxes on said goodies. So is it worth it now? Also? Are we to trust a product review and endorsement from a blogger who is known to do ambassadorships and evangelism in exchange for trips?
Who is to Blame?
I was sponsored by a brand not so long ago. Not a product, but an online media company. They paid to advertise on my blog and they also paid for me to come meet with them – and they paid me for my time. They wouldn’t have got me otherwise. However, I approached them for a sponsorship because I liked them, not because they were going to give me a plane ticket. I liked what they did and I offered to help. For money. Cash.
Too many bloggers are so into getting free stuff, or are so desperate to attend a conference for free, they’ll pimp themselves out to any old brand that comes along – even if it’s not something they’re into. You can tell when someone isn’t into something. The brands aren’t really to blame for this, not when bloggers are willing to work for swag and free trips. I mean yeah, they’re using bloggers, but would it be so easy if bloggers weren’t allowing themselves to be used?
If bloggers weren’t begging for sponsorships on their blogs and Twitter, would brands be scheming to get all this promotion for little compensation? If bloggers didn’t go so crazy in the swag suites, the brands probably wouldn’t try and tempt them with products. If bloggers held out for actual cash money, brands would have no choice but to pay them money. But they don’t.
So many bloggers make it clear that they will blog for food or a ticket, and brands know that’s much cheaper than paying a per post or hourly rate, so why not go for it? Some of the bloggers who are doing this for swag don’t even realize they should receive money in exchange for an endorsement. So yeah, I guess I’m blaming the blogger more than the brand. Brands should know better, but they have a good thing going on. They get a buzz marketing campaign going with very little investment on their part. Why wouldn’t they be all over this?
Does Brand Evangelism Work?
I’d be interested in learning your answer to this. I don’t know of any campaign that truly took off because a blogger promoted it. I know of several campaigns that crashed after bloggers banded together to pan it (Motrin, Nestle) but I don’t see the reverse happening. Honestly, I don’t see that sending a blogger to a conference or promoting a brand on Twitter really does much for the cause.
What are your thoughts? When you see a blogger acting as a brand ambassador, do you trust that endorsement?
