Ad agencies posing as punters to push their client’s products and services online
June 26th, 2009 by Daniel Young | Filed under Public Relations, Social media.No-one knows you’re a dog on the Internet.
Stephen Lunn wrote an article for The Australian this week entitled, ‘Ad agencies net phantom feedback’, which alleged that advertising agencies are paying people to ‘trawl the net under assumed identities and post favourable reviews of gossip about their clients’ products or services’.
Companies/ agencies that do this should be named and shamed. I don’t think its safe to assume that they will always be found out.
This is, for me, another good reason why clients should work with the PR agencies to develop social media programs and leave the advertising to advertisers. PR may not have the creative and technical experience when it comes to digital projects but it has the edge when you are talking about ‘getting involved in the conversation’ and building relationships.
Advertising is used to having all of the control. The industry excels in the manufacture of images and sounds that make us feel as though the world is a perfect place. They think in campaigns, which have a beginning and an end.
PR deals with messages and is focused on building relationships with influencers over time. PR understands that it takes time to build a relationship and change a perception.
We know there are examples of PR agencies buttering up their own campaigns online but it seems to me that the advertising industry is taking the lead by trying to commercialise online engagement. Regulation is required to deter organisations and their service providers from this sort of activity.
I refer again to the advertising executive who talked about turning communities on and off in line with sales promotions during an industry conference earlier this year.
Woof!
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